The Touch of a Spirit
by liontaming
Summary: "If you had been given a second chance at life, would you be able to say you made something of of it?"
1. The Boy in the Iceberg

The Boy in the Iceberg

Chapter One

When that light came into the sky, the young woman knew that nothing but terrible things would come from it. None the less, she had gazed at it, because truly, it was a sight for anyone's eyes. A spectacle. An omen.

She sighed as the column of light in the sky dissipated, and hugged her arms as the sharp, icy wind billowed around her. For a moment she closed her eyes, and reminded herself that the warmth of the sun would keep her from freezing, and her internal warmth rose, causing the heat to practically radiate off of her skin.

Her amber eyes turned downwards towards the foredeck, where two figures resided. One was sitting in front of a pai sho table, his hair gray and his body stout, and the other was moving towards him, a young man with jet black hair in a ponytail, a scar over his eye, and a horrendous temper.

She watched with a slight disinterest, seeing that the argument that was unfolding always seemed to be one sided. The young man always shouted while the older man spouted off wisdom and philosophies. The shouting part was what kept her up at the observation deck.

Suddenly, the ship changed course, and the young woman quickly adjusted her footing without having to remove her hands from her pockets, and then turned to look at the helmsman.

"Why have we changed course?" She asked. Her looked towards her, and gave a small shrug.

"Your brother's orders, Princess Lian. _'Head a course for the light'_, he said." He answered. Princess Lian sighed, and walked towards the helm so that she could make her way down to the foredeck, and speak to her brother.

As she walked by the helmsman, and lay a on his shoulder, and gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Lee, and remember, you can just call me Lian." She smiled, causing the old helmsman to just grin and nod at the Princess.

"Yes, Princ-" He stopped himself, and Lian chuckled. "_Lian_."

"Don't work too hard, Lee." Lian chuckled as she walked towards the door to the stairway, and waved over her shoulder.

"I'll try not to, until your brother says otherwise." Lee joked as Lian opened the door, and then disappeared behind it.

As she walked through the halls of the ships, she was given casual- but respectful nods of the head or a friendly hello. The first day she had boarded this ship the crew had been ordered to bow to her- and as soon as the first member of the crew had bowed, she had asked that he stand, introduce himself- and not to call her Princess.

For a member of the royal Fire Nation family- she was famous for her humble nature. Most of the population had known her more for her modesty- than her abnormal looks.

When she finally made her way to the foredeck, the first sound that met her ears was her brother's grunts and growls as he began his training- which after he finished, she would start her own training.

"Ah, Lian. Would you like a cup of tea?" The older man asked as she approached. Lian just smiled at him, and then diverted her own course from her brother, to the man at the pai sho table.

"I would love a cup of tea Uncle." She answered as she sat next to him on a mat that he always laid out just in case anyone else chose to play with him. "Jasmine?"

"Of course!" Her Uncle replied with a small laugh. She only smiled as accepted the tea, and brought it up to her nose to take in its wonderful scent.

"Of course, Uncle Iroh, how silly of me to ask." Lian smirked just before she brought the cup to her lips, and took a sip of it. Uncle Iroh always makes the best tea. Lian then looked towards her brother, and frowned. He seemed so… _angry._ More so than usual.

Iroh noticed her change in demeanor, and sighed.

"He believes he has finally found the Avatar." Iroh said quietly, causing Lian's eyebrow to raise as she observed her brother's form. He wasn't doing it correctly. He was forcing the fire from his body. He wasn't breathing correctly.

"Really?" She whispered back as she continued to frown at her brother's movements. He was too stubborn. He wouldn't listen. She turned back to her cup of tea, and raised it up to her lips with both hands as the boat shifted in the cold South Pole waters, and took a sip of the tea that had already started to cool. Lian took a deep breath of the cold air, held it for a moment as he Uncle watched with curious eyes, and then slowly blew it out as hot air that was as warm as any fire.

Her tea was warm in no time.

"Very good, Lian. You've gotten better at that." He commented. Lian just shrugged as she took a sip, and then gave a sideways glance at her brother, which he swiftly glowered at when he felt her gaze.

"Why does he keep doing this to himself, Uncle? It will only cause him hurt in the long run." She sighed quietly. So quietly that Iroh had strained to hear, but none the less, he did hear.

"Your brother does not realize that he has the ability to control his own destiny, to restore his own honor." Iroh looks disappointed. Almost heartbroken, even.

Lian reached over, and mindlessly adjusted her Uncle's lotus tile that resided in the center of the board, and then looked back towards her brother.

He still wasn't breathing correctly. Lian sighed loudly, and her brother abruptly stopped, and glared at her.

"What?!" Her snarled. "You think you can do it better?" He challenged as he took a few steps towards her, his hands curled into fists and his face twisted with anger.

Lian simply frowned at him, and resisted the urge to snap back at him. She was well aware that she was more mature than that, no matter how tempting it was.

"Zuko, you are perfectly capable of doing that drill correctly if you would just _listen _to Uncle." She answered calmly as she held her cup of tea close to her lips, and prepared to take a sip of it. Zuko growled, and shot a small flame at her cup, and the cup of tea went flying into the air, tea and all, and coated the deck next to her with the Jasmine tea that she had been eager to drink.

Lian frowned at the open sea that was before her, her hands still held out in front of her face as if she were still going to take a sip, and then closed her eyes in an attempt to control her temper, unlike her brother. Iroh just gazed down sadly at the spill tea, and Zuko glared at his sister.

Finally, Lian lowered her hands, stood, and then politely bowed at her Uncle.

"Uncle, may I have permission to spar with Zuko?" She asked with her hands clasped in front of her. Iroh raised an eyebrow at his niece, and then glanced at his nephew.

The two were a year apart, but their maturity spanned lifetimes in differences.

He smacked his lips in pleasure as he pulled his cup of tea away from him, and then nodded at Lian, who promptly reached up, and began undoing her coat.

"Yes, you may. But do not hurt each other too badly." He answered almost lazily.

Lian slowly and carefully folded her coat, and placed it on the corner of the pai sho table. Her sparring clothes were simple, but still displayed her royal heritage with their rich red colors, and the warm gold lining.

"Alright Zuko." She spoke as she followed him back towards the part of the deck he had been training at. The soldiers who had been sparring with Zuko moved away, and watched at a safe distance as Lian carefully watched her brother when they came to a stop, and he turned to face her. "Your move."

The two only watched each other for a few moments, the wind stirring each other's hair.

Finally, Zuko made his move, and kicked a ball of fire at his sister, who only sighed and to her brother's fury, she simply gave her hand a casual wave, and the fireball her brother had sent towards her dissipated into embers. Zuko growled, and sent another towards her in the form of a forceful, but incorrectly done, punch, and she gracefully spun around and diverted the attack towards the sky, causing it to be blow out by the cold winds.

"The _breath_, Zuko, remember the _breath._" She encouraged as Zuko sent another fireball at her, and growled loudly when he watched her catch it in her hands, and simply press it between her hands to smother the flames. The smoke billowed away quickly in the cold wind, and Lian finally took a fighting stance.

Lian then pushed herself off of the metal deck, and rose into the air with one leg extended. The spun in a semi circle, leaving an enormous trail of fire in her wake, forcing Zuko back. He hissed in anger, and in an attempt to fight back, sent a violent fireball towards Lian.

Lian only turned, caught it in her left hand, and then blew air from her lips, willing the fire to spring forward like the breath of a dragon.

Zuko fell back to avoid the flames, and in his frustration, slammed a fist on the ground at his defeat.

When Lian rose from her fighting stance, she sighed, and then walked forwards towards her brother, who was still lying on the deck. When she was finally next to him, she held out a hand to him, and watched as she just glared at her- and then suddenly squinted.

"Your hair is shining in my eyes." He snapped as he reached up, and took his sister's hand. Even though Zuko was terribly abrasive towards his sister, the two _somewhat _respected each other outside of training. Zuko became terribly frustrated by Lian's success with firebending during their training, and most of the time forgot that she was not the enemy, but an ally.

Once Zuko was standing, Lian reached up, and held a piece of her hair between her fingers.

The golden hair glimmered in the sunlight that had peeked out from behind the clouds that seemed to coat the entire South Pole. Her hair was the second quality about her that the Fire Nation always seemed to remember. It was abnormal, and at first, the Fire Nation saw it as an atrocity. Her father had been appalled- and still was. It was the reason she had been sent with Zuko when he had been banished. To rid him of the shame that he was so open with his children of.

But it was the sign of thriving life. The sign of being touched by a Spirit.

"Sorry about that. I can't really help it." She muttered. Lian was never exactly a fan of her hair color, no matter what it stood for. But none the less, she was grateful for what the Spirit that had bestowed it upon her had done for her many, many years ago. And unlike her baby sister, Azula, who always wore her hair in a topknot and always wore her crown, Lian frequently wore her long hair down, or in a simple braid tied with a red ribbon.

Another sign of her humble demeanor. Because she never allowed a servant to touch her hair or make them clean her feet. She did everything- but dresses herself in her fine clothes, by herself. Those stupid dress clothes were far to difficult to put on all by herself. Too many strings, buttons, and other irritating fastenings.

"Lian, we shall train tomorrow." Iroh spoke as he stood, and stretched. "I am hungry and tired. And you have much more energy than I." He chuckled as he turned to walk with his niece and nephew, who were watching him carefully as they walked towards the entrance to the warm insides to the ship.

Lian smiled at her Uncle, and nodded.

"Alright Uncle. We'll train tomorrow. But you have to teach me that move you made up." She winked, and Zuko scowled. Whenever Lian and Iroh discussed knew techniques that Lian was ready to move onto, but not Zuko, he got agitated, and even went so far as to storm away and try them himself with only their description. This usually resulted in minor burns to the unlucky soldiers he had bossed around and damage to the foredeck. A few burns were still visible. Like scars on skin.

"I shall, Lian, I shall." He smiled. "But for now, I bid you two goodnight." He politely gave the two a slight bow, and then turned to walk away from his quarters, and left the two on their own, standing in the corridor.

Zuko huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, and Lian turned her eyes to look at him with a slight look of confusion on her face.

Lian gazed at him for a moment, and then cocked her head to the side slightly.

"What?" She asked as she turned her body towards him. He shrugged, and Lian promptly punched him in the arm, causing his eyes to enlarge, and his feet to stumble in surprise. It was rare that Lian would throw such a sucker punch at her brother, but this moment called for it.

"Speak, Zuko, it's not difficult. You just open your mouth and you know-"She moved her mouth around and rose up a hand and imitated speaking. Zuko shot her an annoyed look, and then frowned deeply at his golden haired sibling.

Even though Lian was incredibly mature most of the time, when she was with her siblings, she was incredibly childish at times.

"It's nothing." He replied as he began to walk off. "I'm going to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow, so I'd advise you to turn in too." And with that, he disappeared behind the corner, leaving Lian alone in the corridor with nothing but the sound of the ship groaning in the waters beneath her.

Lian only sighed, and then just as her brother recommended. She turned in for the night.

-0-

The next morning, Lian rose with the sun, just as she always did, lied around for a while, then dressed herself properly for the day ahead of her, plaited her hair in a neat braid, and then exited her room to find her Uncle Iroh, or her brother Zuko.

To say the least, she couldn't find any sign of them inside of the ship. She didn't even come across a single soldier in the corridors of the ship.

Lian stopped into the middle of the hallway she had been walking in, turned to look behind her, then ahead of her, and then suddenly threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"Hello?!" She yelled, causing her voice to travel down the steel halls.

When she doesn't receive any answer, she sighs, and then continues towards the deck. Zuko must have called a meeting. That's why no one was at their stations.

When she began climbing up the stairs to the deck, she wind already began to nip her skin and send shivers up her spine, and little pieces of hair that had escaped her neat braid whipped her cheeks and billowed around her. She only gave a small, quiet groan, and focused on her internal heat. And at her whim, the heat was radiating off of her, and she smiled as the cold seemed to disappear, and finally emerged onto the deck where her eyes landed on the sight of her brother, and the soldiers who had been missing from their stations all lined up and dressed in their armor behind him.

Lian raised an eyebrow at the sight and began to walk forwards towards her brother.

"Zuko, what are you-? " The ship abruptly lurches, and Lian is forced to adjust her footing awkwardly to avoid falling onto the hard, cold steel. When she looks back up, her feet are spread wide apart, and her arms are held out straight to keep her balance.

"_What in Agni..?" _She whispered to herself as she gazed about the deck. It appeared they were sailing through ice. But for what?

"Zuko! What _are you doing_?!" Lian shouted as she finally began to move towards her brother, but was forced to adjust her footing continuously as she went due to the ship's uneasy travels. When she finally reached her brother, and held onto his shoulder and the rail of the deck for support, she could see what they were moving through ice for. She watched with wide amber eyes as they plowed through giant wall made of snow, and small blue tents and people running from the ship came into view.

A water tribe village.

"Zuko, what-" Zuko cut her off when he ordered the men to lower the bowsprit, and prepare to disembark.

Lian glared at her brother when he chose to ignore him, and then roughly grabbed his shoulder, which was covered by his armor. This was when he finally looked at her.

"What in _Agni _are you doing?!" She shouted over the chaos. Zuko's eyes narrowed at his sister, and he somewhat gently pushed her hand off of him.

"Ending my search for the Avatar, _that's_ what I'm doing." He snapped as he placed a helmet on his head- making himself look absolutely ridiculous, and then waved his troops forwards when the bowsprit finally landed.

Lian sighed as he brother moved down the lowered bowsprit, and after all the troops had passed her by, she followed. The least she could do was make sure he didn't make a total fool of himself.

By the time Lian was halfway down the plank, Zuko and his soldiers were already in the snow, and the villagers looked terrified out of their wits.

Except for the one that was crying like a banshee as he charged at Zuko.

Lian didn't even bother to stop her descent down the plank as she watched the scene unfold.

Zuko kicked the boy's weapon out of his hands with a straight face, and then without a single ounce of effort, kicked the boy in the face, and sent him flying back into the snow, where his head gets stuck and he begins to struggle to free himself. Lian couldn't help but giggle at the sight. He looked like an ostrich horse that had stuck its head in the sand just a little too deep.

Zuko moves closer to the villagers, and they cower in fear.

"Where are you hiding him?" Zuko demanded as he moved closer to the villagers, who looked even more afraid now that their only protection had been tossed aside like a set of dirty underclothes.

Lian's amber eyes moved swiftly across the small group of villagers before her. Most of them were women, which was no surprise. Most men where off at war even in the fire nation, where the military allowed women to fight.

It was only when Lian finally stood slightly behind her brother that she felt eyes on her, which was nothing she wasn't used to.

Suddenly, Zuko snatches an elderly woman from her granddaughter's hands, and the all of the villagers react with shouts of worry and fear.

Lian's eyes widen at her brother's actions, and she moves to stop him from doing anything rash.

"He'd be about this age? Master of all elements?" He shouted accusingly. When Lian grasped his shoulder though, he turned his head slightly to her, and scowled even more.

"_Let her go, Zuko. She did nothing to you." _Lian hissed quietly enough for only Zuko to hear. Zuko growled, and then roughly shoved the woman back towards her granddaughter. Lian scowled at her, but was pleased that he let the woman go.

But before she could stop him, he snarled in frustration, and launched a gout of flame over the villagers heads, causing them to scream in fear.

"I know you're hiding him!" Zuko shouts violently.

Lian's eyes widen for fear of the villager's safety, and she grabs Zuko's wrist, and turns it towards the sky, causing the flames to stop short.

"Zuko, _stop_!" She shouted over the screams and the cackling of the flames. Zuko pulled his wrist from his sister's grasp, and took a step away from her.

"Lian, if you're not going to help me, then _get out of my way!_" He bellowed through gritted teeth, and his narrow eyes glared daggers at the golden haired girl that stood before him, returning the glare with just as much vigor as her brother.

But abruptly, the sibling's argument is interrupted by yet another feeble war cry, and the two royal fire benders turn to look. Lian's expression was curious, while Zuko's was horribly annoyed.

Lian swiftly moves out of the way, and the water tribe boy yet again tries to attack Zuko, who expertly dodges the boy's charge, and then flips the boy over his head, winding the water tribe boy.

Zuko then fires a blast of flame at the boy, but the boy is quick, and rolls out of the way, and suddenly throws a boomerang at Zuko, which he is surprised by, and narrowly avoids.

Lian watches as the boomerang flies away, and raises an eyebrow at it. She then leans towards a nearby water tribe woman, who cowers slightly as Lian continues to watch the boomerang and whispers; "_Don't those things come back?" _

The water tribe woman just nods with her eyes wide, and full of fear, and Lian only replies with a small _hmm._

A little boy nearby shouts out as he throws a spear at the water tribe boy that continues to attack Zuko and Lian gives a small smirk.

"Show no fear!" the little boy shouts.

The Water Tribe boy catches the spear, and charges at Zuko, who, as the Water Tribe Boy reaches him, breaks the spear's shaft with his wrist guards, then roughly pulls the staff out of the boy's hands, and whacks him on the head with it several times before snapping the staff in half on his knee. The Boy is now on the ground, rubbing his head, while Zuko stands over him.

As Lian watches on next to the villagers, who keep a wary eye on her, and another eye on the fight, she feels a tug on her pant leg, and looks down with wide eyes.

It was a little water tribe girl, probably around three or four years old with a multitude of hair doilies in her hair that she had obviously made and put in herself.

Lian crouched to speak to the girl, and the child promptly pointed at Lian's hair.

"Your hair is pretty." She spoke bluntly, but sweetly, and loud enough for her mother to hear. The woman Lian had been standing next to gasped loudly, and on reflex, began to reach down to the girl; but before she could pick her up, the girl had already latched onto a piece of Lian's golden hair, and was now stroking it with her other small hand.

"It's soft too!" She shouted. Lian laughed, and then looked over to the fight, just in time to watch the boomerang fly back- and peg Zuko in the head, causing his helmet to turn to the side. With the helmet now stuck on his head, he began to fire of random spouts f fire.

"Why thank you, sweetheart. I like your hair too." Lian commented as she chuckled at her brother's insolence. Lian turned to look back at the girl, and smiled at the multitude of hair ties and fastenings.

"Here, I have something you may like." Lian chuckled as she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a bright red hair fastening. It was shaped like fire, and was made to hold a royal top-knot. She held it out to the girl, and she squealed happily, and accepted it in her mitten covered hands.

"Thank you!" The girl giggled as she attempted to place the hair fastening in her hair, but her mother snatched her up, and held the girl tightly in her arms, silently telling Lian that she was no longer welcome to speak to her.

Lian silently looked up at the woman, who was looking at Lian with a mixture of anger and fright, and Lian only bowed her head, stood, and walked away from the Mother and her child.

"Bye bye pretty lady!" The girl managed to shout before her mother shushed her.

Apparently Lian had missed something, because when she turned away from the Mother and her child, she ran straight into a very confused penguin, and her brother was sprawled out on the ground with his butt in the air, and his helmet resting on top.

Zuko quickly pulled himself up as Lian slowly walked over, and assumed a firebending stance as a boy with an sky blue arrow on his head, planted his staff into the ground, prepared to fight if necessary.

Zuko's soldiers had already surrounded the boy with the arrows, as Lian dared to get closer, but not too close. But when the soldiers take one step forward to face the boy, Lian is given a surprise.

The men flew backwards, and Lian had to dive into the snow to avoid them as they went flying into walls of snow and knocked over tents.

As soon as Lian knew she was safe, her head popped up from under her hands, her amber eyes wide and full of shock, even if they were covered by a few strands of hair that had been knocked out of place by her fall. Zuko was hit with blast of air as well, but just as Uncle had told him to during training, he braced himself, covered his face with his arms, and held his ground.

When Zuko looked up, the Boy with the arrow on his head gave Zuko a severe look.

"Looking for me?" The Boy asked as he took a fighting stance, and pointed his staff at Zuko.

"He's an _airbender?"_ She gasped in awe as her brother began to shout.

"_You're _the airbender? You're the _Avatar?"_ Zuko gaped as his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.

The girl whose grandmother had been ripped from her hands and the boy who had attacked Zuko both gaped as well.

"_Aang_?" The girl said quietly, but loudly enough for Lian to hear.

"No way." The Boy gasped. Lian stared at the two for a moment, and then looked towards the boy and her brother, who were both in fighting stances.

Zuko looked like he was ready to explode, while the boy looked calm, but also a bit intimidated.

Lian finally decided to intervene, and began to move forwards towards her brother.

"Zuko I don't think this is-" She was cut off by her brother.

"I've spent _years _preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating. You're just a child!" Zuko snarled as Lian came up close by him.

"Zuko-" Lian tried again, but was yet again cut off, but this time by the boy.

"Well you're just a teenager." He replied with a slight tone of confusion in his voice. Lian couldn't help but giggle, and for a moment, the airbender's eyes turned to her, and he was distracted.

Zuko spotted this opportunity to attack, and began firing blast after blast, causing Lian to jump and the airbender to quickly move into action, by spinning his staff to keep the flames back.

Lian runs towards her brother as the villagers begin to scream, and the airbender begins to look terrified, and just as she had before during their training, she grabbed Zuko's wrist, twisted it, and his last blast was forced up into the sky, far, _far _away from the innocent villagers.

Zuko forced his wrist from his sister's grasp, and pushed her with his other free hand.

"_What are you doing!?" _He snarled at his sister as she rubbed the shoulder he had shoved. He had pushed a bit harder than he had though, and she wasn't wearing armor. "You're supposed to be helping me!" He yelled loudly as the villagers and the airbender watched with curiosity.

"Zuko this is not the way to do this," She whispered, trying to keep their conversation as private as possible. Obviously that didn't do much. The villagers were dead quiet and they were making the only sounds for miles. "You don't have to put innocent lives at risk!" She snapped as she stomped her foot and pointed a finger at her brother.

Zuko growled, and with the hand that was out of Lian's reach, he threw one last blast at the airbender, and the airbender did the same movement to dissipate it. Before Lian can try and stop Zuko again, the airbender shouts.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" He asks as he holds his staff to his side, and stares at the two firebenders before him, as if both of them played a part in that decision.

Zuko narrowed his eyes at the proposition, and was about to retaliate when Lian put a hand on his outstretched arm.

"Zuko. He's _asking you _to take him." She pointed out to him. Zuko's amber eyes rolled up towards his sister, who was still standing straight up, and narrowed. "Just do it." She practically pleaded with him.

Zuko looked at his sister for a moment longer, and then finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, he stood, and nodded his head at the airbender in agreement.

The airbender planted his staff in the snow, and allowed the two guards that approached him to bound his hands behind him.

"No, Aang!" The girl shouted as she moved forwards. "Don't do this!" Lian sent the girl a sorrowful look, and sighed, causing the boy that was next to the girl to look at Lian.

Lian froze, and her eyes grew wide. His did too- but she could tell she wasn't looking at his face, he was staring at her golden hair.

"Don't worry Katara," The boy named Aang said kindly. Lian thought him to be brave as she looked towards him. "It'll be okay."

The guards holding him pushed him forwards roughly, and Lian sent them a deep frown, and began to move forwards as the boy began to speak again, but this time, his smile didn't look as genuine.

"Take care of Appa for me until I get back." He said as Lian finally approached the guards, and held up a hand to them.

"I'll take him." Lian said as she reached for Aang's shoulder, and gripped it firmly, but gently. The guards looked confused, but didn't protest, and allowed Lian to guide the boy onto the ship.

Lian looked down at the boy, and sent him a small smile, but all that the boy could muster was a small, forced looking grin.

"I'm sorry about this," Lian whispered as they walked up the gangplank. "I really am."

The boy shrugged, and looked down at his feet as Lian guided him towards the entrance to the ship.

"It's alright." He sounded so downtrodden. It broke Lian's heart. "I guess."

Zuko walked past them, and shouted up to the helmsman.

"Head a course for the Fire Nation." He then looked towards his sister, and smiled for the first time in _years_. Lian looked stunned. "We're going home."

While Lian forced a smile on her face, she saw Aang turn around one last time, and send his friends a smile as if to give them an ounce of hope.

Lian hoped that an ounce of hope would go a long, long way.

**-0-**

**Hope you guys like it! **


	2. The Avatar Returns

Lian watched with a frown as her brother played with the Avatar's staff as if it were a cheap toy, and to make it even worse, he was wearing a snide smile on his face.

"This staff will make an excellent gift for my father." Zuko looked away from the staff, and looked towards the airbender. "I supposed you wouldn't know anything about fathers, being raised by _monks._" Zuko sneered.

Lian gave a growl, and moved forwards towards her brother.

"Be nice, Zuko." She snapped. Zuko glared at her, and then spat at the guards.

"Take the Avatar to the prison hold!" He barked before glaring at his sister, and handing the staff to his Uncle.

The guards that had been trailing Lian grabbed Aang roughly, and pushed him down the stairs towards the prison hold.

Lian sighed, and walked past her brother, and followed the guards that had disappeared down the stairs.

Just as Lian disappeared from view to anyone on the deck, one of the guards that had been escorting the Avatar to his prison cell flew into the stairs so close to her that the spike on his helmet cut her ankle.

The sight of the guard flying into the stairs was so stunning, Lian didn't even make a sound until she noticed that Aang was now staring up at her with his eyes wide as if he were a child just caught sneaking sweets before dinner.

Lian rose up her hands and shrugged.

"I'm not stopping you." She said softly to him to keep anyone who happened to be passing by from hearing. The boy smiled, and bowed to Lian.

"Thank you. I owe you." He spoke quietly before his eyes darted down to the guard who had just started to move.

Lian quickly, and frantically waved her hands at Aang, telling him to move so that she could get away, and he quickly darted away, and Lian jumped over the guard, and ran just in time for him to wake up, run up the stairs, and shout up at the men on the deck.

"The Avatar has escaped!" The guard shouted as Lian turns abruptly on her heel, and glares at the end of the hall where the guard's voice came from. In order to keep herself from getting in any kind of dilemma, Lian sprinted up to the deck where she expected Zuko to be, and acted as if she were looking for the Avatar just as the guards were, while she was actually keeping an eye out for her brother.

"Where is Zuko?!" She yells to no one in particular, but when she looks around, the answers she receives are shrugs of the shoulders and shakes of the head.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew hair into Lian's face, and she was momentarily blinded before she pulled the hair out of her face, and looked up just in time to see Aang flying up into the sky on his orange glider. She smiled, and took several quick steps forwards to watch is ascent- until she spotted her brother sprinting for his life, and watched with horror as he gave a cry of desperation, and snatched Aang's ankle, causing the airbender to grunt.

Lian sprinted across the large foredeck as the two boys on the glider turned to look up at something in the sky, and Zuko's eyes became as large as saucers.

Due to her natural curiosity, Lian turned as she ran, and looked up into the sky.

In shock, she skidded to a stop, and her mouth fell wide open. Even though the two siblings were over twenty feet away from each other, both of them said the same thing.

"What is _that?_"Lian gasped as her hair billowed around her, and eyes followed the large, flying creature with the arrow on its head.

Unexpectedly, the familiar booms that came from firebending reached Lian's ears, and she turned her attention back to her brother and Aang.

Aang was being pushed up against the edge of the ship, and Zuko was firing fireball after fireball at him.

"Zuko, NO!" Lian screamed as she sprinted towards him- but it was too late, Zuko fired off one last fireball, and Aang went toppling over the edge.

"Aang! No!" Lian knew it was the girl from the water tribe screaming above her, but she couldn't look away from the spot where Aang had just toppled over.

She looked back towards her brother, who looked far too proud of himself- and plowed right into him.

"_What is wrong with you_?!" Lian screamed at her brother as she shook him violently. Zuko looked surprised at his sister's actions, but he looked even more surprised a few seconds after that.

Lian had her back to the water when she heard it, and slowly turned around, only to be met with a wall of water.

"Oh _Agni." _She gasped as she released her brother's shirt, and backed away slowly.

Aang was at the top of the spiraling tornado of water that towered over the ship, and sent shivers of fear down the two royal sibling's backs.

Aang landed on the deck of the ship, his arrows and eyes aglow, and the water still swirling around him, when suddenly it expanded forwards with such speed that Zuko, Lian, and all of the soldiers that had been on deck where knocked overboard.

Lian screamed as the water pulled her off the deck, and scratched and scrambled for any kind of hand hold as she slid closer and closer towards the edge of the ship.

Finally, her hand wrapped around one of the bars of the rails around the ship, and she came to a less than gentle and abrupt stop. She gasped for air, and spat out water as she kept a tight grip on the rail, and finally opened her eyes. Lian took a sharp intake of breath when she saw that she was very, _very_ far above the cold, and ice coated waters of the South Pole, and that she was getting dangerously close to the Cliffside.

Lian quickly swung herself around, and grasped the rail with both hands. Just as she was about to pull herself up, she heard a loud gasp, and turned to look towards where it had come from.

It was the Water tribe boy that had tried to attack Zuko. He was now pulling Aang's staff away from Zuko's hands by hitting him in the head with it, and within three hits on the forehead with the staff, Zuko let go, and fell even further down the side of the ship. Lian watched with horror until she spotted her brother grab onto a nearby latter, and then quickly pulled herself up onto the deck. Lian gave a relieved sigh when she's finally on safe ground, and then looked up.

Lian's eyes grew wider than dinner places at the sight of the beast before her. The beast bared its teeth, and Lian swallowed hard as chaos ensued around her.

"N-nice flying a-animal." She stuttered as she began to try and stand as slowly as possible. She could hear the voices of the water tribe girl and the boy, but she didn't bother to listen because she was more preoccupied with the beast that was staring her down.

Suddenly, the beast gave a rumble, and pushed itself off of the ship. Lian gave a relieved sigh, and then looked down and noticed something wrapped around her ankle.

It looked terribly like part of a harness. Or reigns.

"Lian! _Move_!" Zuko shouted as he was pulled back onto the ship by their Uncle and some soldiers. Lian looked at Zuko, but didn't react to his words in time, and was suddenly and violently pulled up into the sky by her ankle. Her head grazed the steel deck of the ship as she rose, and in a final desperate attempt to keep herself from flying into the air, she tried to find a handhold on the ship's smooth surface- but to no avail.

Lian gave a bloodcurdling scream as she was lifted higher and higher into the air with a clear view of the ship growing smaller and small as she rose higher and higher.

She could see her brother and Uncle shouting and running after her from the deck of the ship, but it was no use. She was too far for them to do anything.

Lian finally looked up, and saw that her ankle was horribly tangled, and still bleeding from her run in with the guard Aang had taken down only minutes ago.

She carefully started swinging herself, and finally was able to grab onto the leather reign that was wrapped around her ankle, and grunted as she tried to pull herself up so that the blood wouldn't rush to her head.

"Just… a little…_ further_…" She grunted as she tried to pull herself up into a standing position. Just as she was about to reach her goal, her hands slipped from still being soaking wet, and in a split second realization, Lian's heart began pounding, her eyes dilated, and she screamed once again.

Fortunately, Lian's ankle was still securely in place in the reigns, but now, it was much, _much _tighter, and was now becoming painful.

"What was that?" Lian hears the Water Tribe boy ask. But before Lian can shout up to them, she looked back down at the ship, and her eyes widened.

A giant fireball was flying directly at the Avatar's flying animal, and Lian was currently stuck to it.

"NO, NO, _NO_!" Lian screams as she watches the fireball grow closer and closer.

Suddenly, the fireball is exploded into millions of pieces with such a tremendous bang that it shook the Cliffside next to the ship, and Lian covered her mouth in fear as she watches her brother's ship become covered with ice and snow, but is relieved when she sees that most of the ship is safe.

"Hey! What are _you_ doing here?!"

Lian's eyebrows pop up, and she looks up towards the flying animal's passengers, and sees the Water tribe boy with the blue eyes and the ponytail glaring down at her with is boomerang drawn.

Suddenly, two more heads pop out from behind the edge of the flying animal's saddle, and Aang is the first to smile.

"Its okay guys! She helped me!" Aang chirps happily as he reached down and began to tug on the reigns that were holding Lian thousands and thousands of feet above the South Pole.

"Why are you helping _her _though!?" The boy shouted as the water tribe girl reached over and began to help Aang pull Lian up as well. "She's from the _fire nation!" _

"_Hey_!" Lian snapped as she pointed up to the boy, who was stunned by her outburst. "Just because I'm from the Fire Nation doesn't mean I'm a bad person!" She snarled. "And the blood is rushing to my head _fast _and I'd really like to sit up _soon!" _She snapped and then tried to reach up for Aang's hand once she was close enough, but the girl's grip on the reigns slipped, and Lian fell a few inches, and even worse- the reigns started to come loose.

"I'm going to fa-" Too late.

Lian felt herself falling, her stomach churning from spinning uncontrollably through the air, her hair whipping her eyes, causing them to water from a mixture of the wind and the cold air.

_This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happen-_

Lian grunted loudly as was abruptly caught mid air, and then reached up, and rubbed her leaking eyes.

"Stay still. I got you." Aang chirped as he angled the orange glider back up towards his flying animal and his friends, and Lian held on extra tight and gritted her teeth.

"I don't think I like this!" She shouted over the howling winds.

Without warning, Aang dropped her onto the saddle with the Water Tribe girl and her brother, and Lian couldn't help but just lay there for a moment and just _breathe._

"I never want to do that again." She groaned as she reached up, and rubbed her eyes, then covered her face.

"So, what's your name?" Aang chirped from next to Lian, who peeked out from between her fingers, and gazed at Aang. Lian finally took her hands off her face, and then moved to sit up.

"I'm Lian." She spoke as she sat up, and smoothed her wet hair. "And.. consider us even."

-0-

Zuko ran to the edge of the ship, and watched with wide eyes as the avatar's bison flew away into the distance- with his younger sister dangling off of it.

"Follow the Avatar! Gets this ship moving, _NOW_!" Zuko screamed at his soldiers who were busy trying to free themselves from the ice that the Water Tribe girl had left over their feet. Zuko was still shivering from being soaked by the Avatar's attack, but that did not stop him from barking orders at his men, hoping that somehow- someway he could chase after the Avatar, and even more importantly, get his sister back.

"Good news for the Fire Lord. The nation's greatest threat is just a little kid!" Iroh spoke as he approached his distressed nephew, who was now staring at the damage that had done to his ship.

"That kid, Uncle, just did _this_." Zuko spoke so quietly that it actually stunned his Uncle. "And _kidnapped_ my sister! I won't underestimate him again."

Zuko turned towards his men, and barked an order at them.

"Dig this ship out and follow them!" He barked. Suddenly, his opened wider, and he realized that they were busy trying to thaw each other out of the ice. His face fell. "As soon as your done with that."

Zuko then turned back towards the sunset his sister had just disappeared into, and rubbed his face with his hands- a habit that he had picked up from his sister over the three years they had spent together at sea.

"I'm sorry, Lian." He whispered to himself as his Uncle watched on from a few feet away. "I should have kept an eye on you." He sighed as he looked up towards the sunset that was quickly falling and with a final angry huff; he turned on his heel, and retreated into his quarters for the evening.

-0-

Back on what Lian now knew as Appa, things were less than comfortable.

The Water Tribe boy, which Aang had introduced as Sokka, had demanded she be restrained and due to his loud voice and abrasive attitude- he had gotten his way. And unfortunately the other two didn't argue- much.

So now, Lian was sitting at the back of the saddle twiddling her thumbs behind her back and staring at the sky that was fading quickly. She had tried her best to make herself comfortable on the back of the saddle, but to say the least- it wasn't working out to well. First she had tried crossing her legs, but her feet were bound too tight to allow the movement. When that plan failed, she tried sitting with her legs folded to the side- but after a while of not having a hand to lean against to support her, the position became uncomfortable; and since then, she had been moving just about every minute or so.

"Will you stop moving around so much?!" Sokka snapped as he shot Lian as sideways glare. But it was when he saw how Lian was laying; he turned his face to give her an incredulous look.

She was laying with her tied feet over the edge of the saddle that led to Appa's tail, her bound hands behind her back, and her head propped up on a bad she had pushed over with the side of her face. She probably would have been comfortable if her hands weren't pushing her back up in an awkward position.

She only blinked when she noticed him look at her, and then sent him a smile that he frowned at.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked out of the side of his mouth, and his eyes narrow. His question floated into Katara's ears, and Aang's, causing them both to turn around, and both raised eyebrows at Lian.

She took a quick glance at the three people staring at her, and smiled.

"I'm uncomfortable. I'm trying to fix that." She shrugged as she tried to wriggle herself out of her awkward position, but nearly rolled herself off of the saddle, and squeaked with surprise when she felt herself become weightless, and gave a sigh of relief when she realized she wasn't going to fall.

Sokka continued to watch the girl with narrow eyes and a raised eyebrow as Katara turned away from Lian's antics, and began to speak to Aang.

"How did you do that? With the Water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen." She questioned as she leaned against the saddle, and Aang turned back to Appa's reigns. Even though Lian's view of Aang was upside down, she could see his shoulders slump slightly, and his cheery demeanor change.

"I don't know." Aang shrugged. Lian frowned. "I just sort of… did it." Sokka finally took his eyes off of Lian, and his expression softened slightly as he listened to Katara and Aang speak.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" Katara asked. Aang looked away from Katara so that she couldn't see his face, but now, Lian had a profile view of the deep frown, and the troubled look in his eyes.

"Because... I never wanted to be." Aang answered quietly. Lian raised her eyebrows at this, and twisted her head slightly to get a better look at Aang as a cloud passed over them. Sokka caught this movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked at Lian, who was focused on Aang.

Her eyes opened wider when the sunlight disappeared behind a cloud, and then narrowed again when the sun reemerged, causing her golden hair to practically glow in the light of the sunset.

He raised an eyebrow in thought.

_How in the world does someone end up with hair like that?_

"But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war." Katara said gently. Aang looked straight down, and sighed.

"And how am I going to do that?" Aang asked as he adjusted his hold on Appa's reigns.

Sokka continued to look at Lian while she watched the exchange between Katara and Aang with a curious expression on her face.

Suddenly, Lian's mouth opened, and before Sokka could say anything, Lian began to give her own two cents.

"Well, according to legend, you need to master first water, earth, then fire, right?" Lian asked as she skillfully swung her feet around, and ended up in a sitting position. Katara and Aang both looked at Lian, and raised their eyebrows at her.

"That's what the Monks told me." Aang answered with the same, glum expression.

"Well, I can only think of one place that the fire nation hasn't gotten too that have a _few_ waterbending masters." Lian chirped with a smile. Aang gave a small smile, and Katara perked up, and then looked back at Aang.

"If we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending!" Katara spoke with excitement as she looked back over at Aang, who met her gaze, and smiled wider.

"We can learn it together!" He said with cheer. Lian gave a small smirk as she watched the scene unfold, and leaned back against the saddle as Sokka raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"And Sokka," Katara spoke as she turned to look at her brother, whose head snapped towards her at his name. "I'm sure you'll get to knock a few fire nation heads along the way." She smiled.

Lian's smirk was wiped away at this comment, and she slumped slightly from her sitting position.

_Ouch. _

"I'd like that." Sokka said dreamily. Lian looked up at him from the corner of her eyes, and frowned. "I'd _really _like that."

"Then we're in this together." Katara said as she exchanged a look with her brother, and then Aang. Then, before anyone else could get too excited, Lian loudly cleared her throat, causing the trio to look towards her.

"What about me?" Lian asked as she sat back up, and gave them a questioning look. Sokka raised up a hand and quickly spoke first.

"I say we dump her the first chance we get." He said with a tone of importance as he held his hand high in the air. Katara and Aang looked at him with expressions of disdain, and then watched as he turned towards them. "Whose with me?!" He practically cheered.

Lian watched him with furrowed eyebrows and narrow eyes.

"Glad to see you think so highly of me." She mumbled just loud enough for Sokka to hear, and turn his head at.

He narrowed his eyes at her, and pointed a finger before he began to speak.

"You're fire nation, why should I?" He snapped back at Lian, causing her to frown deeply.

Lian finally burned the ropes off of her hands, and to Sokka's surprise, she reached around, and pointed a finger at him.

"Just because I'm fire nation doesn't mean I _wanted_ to be!" She shouted at him, causing him his eyes to widen in shock at both her statement, and then fact that her bindings were now just a tiny pile of soot behind her. Aang watched with wide eyes, while Katara covered her mouth in surprise.

Appa's passengers were silent for what seemed like a lifetime, and Lian chose to avert her eyes elsewhere, and gazed over the edge of the saddle.

Aang suddenly flew up into the air, and to Lian's surprise, he landed right next to her in a graceful gust of air, and looked at Lian with a smile.

"Lian… would you like to join us on our journey to the North Pole?" Aang asked carefully, not wishing to hurt Lian's feeling at all.

Lian's eyes grew as wide as plates as she gaped at Aang, and then reached up to push a strand of hair behind her ear as she stuttered.

_What about Zuko? What about Uncle? They'll be worried about me._ She thought to herself as she gazed down at her hands. _I'll be a traitor. I'll become a wanted criminal._

She looked back towards the edge of the saddle, and sighed.

_But you'll be helping the Avatar, Lian. You can help him save this war torn world that we live in._

_You create your own destiny remember? You tell Zuko that all the time, _She thought to herself as she looked back towards the three kids that continued to stare at her, waiting for an answer. _Why can't you do the same?_

* * *

**Hey guys! I know this is only the second chapter and all, but I'd really appreciate if you left a review! **

**Reviews encourage updating~! ;)**


	3. The Southern Air Temple

The Southern Air Temple

Chapter Three

The next morning, Lian was the second person to awake that morning after rolling off of the patch of grass she had found to sleep on the night before, and was rewarded by sputtering and coughing when she accidently inhaled an unhealthy amount of dirt. Aang had watched with wide, curious eyes as he toyed with Appa's reigns, and Katara looked up from her sleeping back groggily with hair that strongly resembled a rat's nest.

Sokka looked up for a moment as Lian sat up and began frantically wiping her tongue off with her shirt, and scowled.

"Could you cough a little more quietly?" He grumbled before rolling over in his sleeping bag, and falling back to sleep before he could see Lian glare at him. Katara sat up in her sleeping bag, rubbed her eyes, and looked towards Lian, who was still spitting and wiping her tongue, blinked at her with a raised eyebrow, and then turned to look at Aang, who was still watching Lian with wide eyes.

"Well…." Lian grumbled before spitting one last time. Katara looked back towards her as she moved to get out of her sleeping bag to roll it up, and prepare for the day ahead of her. Aang's gazed turned upwards from his work on Appa's reigns and looked at Lian as she wiped her face. "Now I know why my Mother always told me not to eat dirt…It tastes disgusting." Lian groaned as she stood, and dusted off her scarlet and gold clothes with a huff.

Aang laughed, and Lian looked up at him as she began to walk towards the lake the quartet had camped out in front of last night. It was a nice place to camp- minus the fact that this was Lian's first time ever camping in her entire life, and also the first time Lian had slept on anything less than a turtle-duck feather filled mattress with a pillow under her head.

It was foreign, and it was also safe to say that Lian did _not _enjoy it.

Lian sat down in front of the water on her knees, and reached down with cupped hands to wash her face.

The water was cold, and even though it was a bit discomforting, it helped take the sleep out of her eyes and shock her body out of the sleepiness that clung to her after her abrupt awakening.

Lian dropped the rest of the water back into the lake, and sighed in content as she looked up with water still dripping off of her face, clinging to eyelashes as if they were clinging for dear life as her light amber eyes scanned the horizon.

_So what have you decided after a night's rest?_ Lian asked herself as she gazed off into the distance. At the thought, Lian raised an eyebrow, and reached up to rub her achy neck. _If you could call it that…_

Lian heard Aang speaking to Katara behind her, and Katara moving about to pack her things, but she didn't pay attention to any of it as she held out a wet hand, and gazed down at it for a moment.

_What about Zuko? Uncle? They'll miss you. _Lian pondered. _You can't leave them. _

Yesterday evening when the three had been waiting for an answer, Lian had answered them with uncertainty, and asked if there was any way she could consider their offer after a night of rest.

Sokka had shot her down without a second thought, and demanded she be tied up again. Lian was about to argue when Katara and Aang both agreed to her offer- which promptly shut Sokka up, and caused him to brood for about two hours before he fell asleep.

Lian looked back down at her hand, and with a flick of her fingers, a small, orange fireball ignited, and remained there under her command.

_Your nation destroys everything it touches, Lian. You have the option to mend that destruction. You can help the Avatar. You can teach him._ She thought as she gazed down at the flame in her hands, and carefully began to roll the fire between her fingers like a girl would twirl her hair.

A hand suddenly touched Lian's shoulder, and she jumped at the sudden touch, causing the fire in her hand to disappear, only leaving a puff of smoke in its wake.

Lian looked up with wide, amber eyes, and spotted none other than the Avatar himself with a concerned smile on his face.

"You don't have to stay with us, Lian. You won't hurt our feelings if you decide to stay with your brother." Aang said softly as he gave Lian's shoulder a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Lian sent Aang a small grin, and then looked back towards the lake as water continued to drip down her face. There wasn't much left, but there was still enough to cause her face to glisten in the sunlight.

"I know, Aang." She sighed as she gazed at the sunrise. "I'm just a little… conflicted." She wasn't sure if that was the right word. But it worked nicely for now.

Aang took his hand off of her shoulder, and sat down with his legs crossed next to her, and watched with curiosity as the firebender began to explain her inner turmoil.

"I want to help you because I feel as though what my brother is doing is… well, _wrong._" Lian began as she moved her hands about, creating a tiny fireball that she was tossing back and forth with ease. Aang watched carefully as Lian played with the fire in her hands, but continued to listen intently.

"But at the same time," Lian stopped tossing the ball of fire, and sighed as she held it in the hand closest to Aang, who was still watching the fire with wonder. "Zuko is my best friend. My family. He's always supported me and I feel as though if I left him- I would be abandoning him at a time when he needs my support the most."

Aang looked up at Lian's last few words, and watched as the teenage girl gazed down at the ball of fire in her hand, and suddenly made her hand into a fist- and extinguished the fire without a second thought.

Aang didn't say a word, but just waited patiently for Lian to continue as Katara watched carefully from Appa's saddle.

"Aang, I know that you've been gone for a long, _long _time." Lian started as she stared down at the hand that had just enveloped the flame she had created. Aang nodded solemnly, but continued to listen to Lian. "But do you know what the fire nation- _My_ nation, has done to the world?" She asked as she finally looked up, and met eyes with Aang.

Aang gave a shrug, and continued to meet Lian's gaze.

"I know a little. I know that there's a war that's been going on for a hundred years." He answered as he looked away towards the sunrise. The thought of him not being there to protect the world for so long hurt him.

Lian looked back towards the sunrise as well, sighed. He didn't know the half of it.

"Aang, my father has singlehandedly left this world scarred and broken. He's destroyed nations. Killed millions, and worst of all, he's destroyed _families_." She spoke as she looked away from Aang and the sunset. "Even his _own._" She muttered.

"I'm not sure that I want to be a part of his destruction anymore, Aang. It's painful to watch and-" She paused, and Aang looked towards her. "I've been telling myself that since you first asked me if I wanted to join that I could _help you._ I could help the Avatar heal this world."

Aang watched Lian contemplate her words for a moment, and then suddenly gave a soft smile.

"Lian, you don't always have to feel obligated to do things for your family that you're not comfortable with. You can do _anything _with your life." Aang spoke as Lian looked towards him with her wide amber eyes. "It may not be the easiest decision, but it may be the _right_ decision."

Lian stared at Aang for a moment, and then smiled at him.

"Well Aang, aren't you wise for your age?" She chuckled as she playfully reached out, and punched his arm gently, causing Aang to laugh.

"Well, technically I am a 112 years old." Aang shrugged as he continued to giggle. Lian laughed quietly, and looked back towards the lake. The sun was up completely by now, and it was gazing down at them from its perch in the sky.

_It may not be the easiest decision, but it may be the right decision. _

Lian looked at Aang, who was still watching Lian, waiting for her answer.

"Aang," She said with a strong voice as she stood, and looked down at the boy with the arrows.

Aang looked up at the Princess, and watched as she held out hand, and followed the length of her arm up to her face, where a smile rested underneath her glittering amber eyes.

"I think I have an answer for you."

-0-

"Uncle, I want the repairs made as soon as possible. I don't want to risk staying too long and losing his trail." Zuko spoke as he walked down the gangplank and onto the dock with his Uncle trailing behind him.

"You mean the Avatar?" Iroh asked with a questioning look on his face.

Zuko stopped abruptly on the dock, and then whirled around to face his Uncle with a look of fire in his eyes.

"_Don't _mention his name on these docks!" Zuko hissed quietly through gritted teeth, causing his Uncle to lean back slightly. "Once word gets out that he's alive every firebender will be out looking for him and I don't want anyone getting in the way!"

"Getting in the way of what, Prince Zuko?" A voice asked nearby. Zuko's eyes widened, and he spun about to face the man who was speaking to them.

Zuko's expression turns dark as he spots the man who has spoken to him, and his body tenses with distaste.

"Captain Zhao." Zuko practically spits as he watches the man with approach them.

Zhao smirked as his name left Zuko's throat, causing his sideburns to twitch with the movement.

"Its _Commander _now." Zhao sneered at Zuko, causing the Prince's features to twist slightly. "And General Iroh!" Zhao bowed at Iroh, who smiled humbly at the man whom his nephew despised, and watched as he stood once more. "Great hero of our nation."

"_Retired _General." Iroh corrected with a smile.

Zhao only continues to speak.

"The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests any time." Zhao smiled as his eyes flickered to Zuko's ship. "What brings you to my harbor?" He questioned.

Iroh is the first to speak.

"Our ship is being repaired." He answers as Zuko narrows his eyes at the memory of exactly how the incident occurred.

Zhao leans over slightly to eye the heavily damaged bow of Zuko's ship, and raises an eyebrow at the sight.

"That's _quite_ a bit of damage." Zhao purrs with an almost uninterested tone that causes Zuko to glare at him from the corner of his eyes.

"Yes! You wouldn't believe what happened." Zuko spoke suddenly, causing both Zhao and his Uncle to look towards him. Zuko then elbowed his Uncle, and motioned towards his downtrodden ship. "Uncle! Tell Commander Zhao what happened.

Uncle seemed to stumble at Zuko's sudden pass, and his eyes widen, and blink a few times before he speaks.

"Yes…I will do that. It was incredible!" Iroh began as he rose up his hands for effect, and then leaned over towards his nephew, and whispered; "What? Did we crash or something?"

The color in Zuko's face drained suddenly, but thankfully, he didn't stumble as terribly as his Uncle.

"Uh… Yes!" He spoke uncomfortably. "Right into an Earth Kingdom ship!"

Zhao raised an eyebrow at this answer, and gave a knowing smile.

"Really?" He begins. "You must regale me with all the _thrilling details." _He finished as he leaned close to Zuko's face with an obvious challenge.

"Join me for a drink?" The Commander asks as he backs away from Zuko's scowling face.

Zuko quickly answers.

"Sorry, but we have to go." Zuko snaps as he turns to leave. But his Uncle reaches back, and grabs his nephew's shoulder, causing him to stop short.

"Zuko! Show Commander Zhao your respect." He scolds before turning back towards Zhao with a kind smile. "We will be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? That is my favorite." Iroh questions as he moves to follow Commander Zhao.

Zuko growls in fury behind the two men, and two bursts of fire fly from his hands in anger before he begins to stomp after them.

"I'm sure we do, General Iroh." Zhao answers smoothly as he leads them to his tent. "But I've just noticed that someone is missing!" He says as he feigns interest. Zuko's eyebrows shoot up behind them, and he nearly smacks himself in the face.

Of course Zhao would notice that Lian's missing. Who _wouldn't?_

"Where is your lovely sister, Prince Zuko?" Zhao asks as he turns to look at the Prince, who quickly composes his features, and glowers at the Commander.

Zuko quickly thinks, and spits out an answer.

"She was not feeling well today. She's in her quarters back on the ship." Zuko spews as he follows the two men inside of the tent, and takes a seat.

"Ah," Zhao says as he takes a seat, and snaps his fingers. "I'm sure she is."

-0-

"Hey stomach, be quiet, alright? I'm trying to find us some food."

Lian's amber eyes turned from her fingers where she had been firebending a miniature dragon through, and turned towards the boy who was now speaking to his growling- or more like snarling stomach. With a mixture of interest and boredom, she watched as he picked up a food bag, and dumped out the contents onto his gloved hand, revealing only a pile of crumbs.

"Hey!" He shouts, causing Lian's eyebrow to rise as her miniature dragon turned back into a line of fire due to her lack of concentration. "Who ate all my blubbered sea jerky?!"

Aang sat up a bit straighter, and turned slightly towards Sokka from his place on Appa's head.

"Oh, that was _food_?" He speaks as he adjusts his hold on Appa's reigns. Lian raised both eyebrows as the exchange continues. "I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry." He shrugs as Sokka groans.

"WHAT? No wonder the flames smelled so good." He groaned as he reached up, and pulled down his eyes in frustration.

A small laugh escaped Lian's lips as she looked back down what was now a ball of fire in her hand, and attempted to focus on turning it back into a small dragon as Sokka glared at her.

"What?" He snapped at Lian, causing her to lose her concentration, and look up at Sokka with wide eyes.

Lian gave a small smirk, and scoffed quietly.

"Nothing." She answered innocently before looking back down at her string of fire that Sokka promptly glowered at.

"I thought I said no firebending!" He snapped as he pointed at Lian's fingers. Lian looked up at him with a deadpanned expression, and just when she was about to snap back at him, Aang intervened.

"Come on, Sokka. That's like asking me not to airbend. Or Katara not to waterbend." He reasoned as he glanced back at his friends. Katara was the next to stand up for Lian.

"Yeah Sokka, just calm down. She's just keeping herself entertained." Katara spoke as she sent a motherly look at her brother.

Sokka just stuck out his lower lip like a child, and then slumped in his seat, causing Lian to chuckle slightly, and then turn back to her firebending. The passenger's of Appa's saddle went silent for a while longer, but Lian could still feel Sokka's heated glare from his seat nearby her.

Then she wondered, if he despised her so much, then why in the world was he seated so close by?

"The Batola mountain range!" Aang suddenly shouted out as he pointed at the mountain range. "We're almost there!"

Lian frowned at the words, and swallowed hard as she allowed her flame to go out in the wind.

Sokka noticed Lian's sudden change in demeanor, and narrowed his eyes at her as Katara began to speak.

"Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders." She spoke uneasily, as if she were trapped on ice. Lian looked up at her words with a surprised look in her eyes, and realized- Aang didn't know exactly how much the Fire nation had destroyed.

He didn't' understand that his people were gone.

"What about 'em?" Aang asked as Lian reached up, and placed a hand on her chest as a little bird called guilt began to build its nest in her ribcage.

Lian looked over at Katara, who seemed to be planning her words carefully, causing Lian's blonde eyebrows to furrow.

_Don't lie to him, Katara, just tell him._ She thought in a desperate plea.

"Well, I just want you to prepared for what you might see." She spoke gently as she watched Aang carefully, and then glanced at Lian, who quickly averted her eyes down towards her lap. "The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my Mother and they could have done the same to your people." She said softly as she continued to watch Aang for any sign of response.

Lian felt the bird in her chest suddenly take a peck at her heart, and tug sharply.

_The Fire Nation is Ruthless. _She repeated in her head as Aang responded to Katara.

"Just because no one has _seen _an airbender doesn't mean that the Fire Nation killed them all." He chirped optimistically as he turned to look at Lian with a smile. "They probably escaped. Right Lian?"

Lian jumped at the sound of her name, but none the less, she looked at Aang with wide eyes, and felt her chest tighten at the sight of his happy-go-lucky face.

Thankfully Katara intervened, and Lian was able to slip by without saying a word.

"I know it's hard to accept." Katara pushed just before she bit her lip. Lian only sunk slightly in her sitting position, her face now out of Sokka, Katara, and party Aang's view as she reached back, and pulled up the thin hood attached to her shirt.

"You don't understand Katara. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison. Right Appa?" Aang chimed as he reached down, and lovingly pet Appa, who grunted with approval.

Lian pulled her head further over her face, and sighed, causing Sokka and Katara to both look at her.

_They didn't need flying bison Aang. _She thought darkly as she tried to ignore the nest of guilt that had taken place in her ribcage.

Sokka watched Lian for a moment longer before exchanging a look with his sister, who simply gave him a poignant look, and a shrug.

"Yip yip!" Aang commands Appa as they begin to approach the mountainside.

It's when Lian feels the sudden shift in Appa's angle that she bolts straight up, and clings to the saddle next to her, and holds her hood in place with her other hand as Sokka and Katara strain to keep themselves up along with her.

"I don't think I like flying!" Lian shouts over the howling wind as she squeezes her eyes shut.

But just as soon a Appa sped up, he rose above the rocky outcropping and the tress, and the tall spirals of the Southern Air temple were revealed.

When Lian hear Katara and Sokka gasp as they reveled in the sight before them, she opened her eyes, and took in her own gasp.

"Its… amazing." Lian breathed as she sat up on Appa's saddle and gazed at the temple with her wide eyes.

Aang only smiled, and reached down to pet Appa's head.

"We're home, buddy." He smiled as he looked back up at the Temple. Lian's look of amazement suddenly fell, and her eyes snapped towards Aang. "We're home."

The nest in her ribcage suddenly grew, and the bird took another hard, violent, peck at her heart.

-0-

A rough, calloused hand waved across the map on the wall with a confident air, and then lowered back towards it owner's side.

"And by year's end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule." Zhao spoke as he moved away from the map with a glance towards Iroh, whom was inspecting some of the weapons on the wall, and then took a seat in front of Zuko, who glared at the Commander.

"The Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war." Zhao announced proudly as he watched Zuko's expression, and how his eyes narrowed when he spoke.

"If my Father thinks that the rest of the world is going to follow him willingly then he is a _fool_." Zuko spat as he continued to glare at Zhao.

Zhao quirked an eyebrow at the young man before him, and he looked pointedly at the Prince's scar.

"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue." Zhao retorted coolly as Zuko sat back in his chair with a sour expression on his face.

"So how is your search for the Avatar going?" Zhao asked after a moment of silence.

But then, there is a loud crash of metal clanging against each other as weapons fall, and the Prince and the Commander turn to look at Iroh, who is standing over the fallen stand of weapons with a bewildered expression on his face.

"My fault entirely." He says with an embarrassed expression on his face.

Zuko rolled his eyes at his Uncle, and then turned back to Zhao, who also looked slightly annoyed.

"We haven't found him yet." Zuko answered. Zhao eyes flashed, and he gave a retched smile.

"Did you really expect to?" Zhao practically laughed, causing Zuko to clench his hands into fists. "The Avatar died a hundred years ago- along with the rest of the airbenders." He sneered.

Zuko couldn't help but look away from Zhao, and wonder, how exactly did the Avatar live for all those years?

Zhao noticed Zuko's guilty stare at his floor, and he leaned forward with an accusing look on his face.

"Unless you have evidence that the Avatar is still alive?" Zhao asked with an underlying tone to his voice that caused Zuko to turn, and glare at him.

_Agni, I wish Lian was here. She can lie just as well as Azula. _Zuko thought to himself as he looked back away from Zhao.

"No. Nothing." Zuko answered carefully. Zhao didn't buy it, and he began to rise from his chair, causing Iroh and Zuko to look at him.

"_Prince Zuko,"_ Zhao spat as he stood in front of Zuko, who looked up at him with fire in his eyes. "The Avatar is the only person who can stop the Fire Nation from _winning _this war."

Zhao leaned even closer, and Zuko narrowed his eyes.

"If you have an _ounce _of loyalty left, you'll _tell me _what you've found out." Zhao hissed with a stern, yet threatening look on his aged face.

"I haven't found _anything_." Zuko hissed with defiance. "It's like you said. The Avatar probably died a long time ago."

Zuko stood, and without looking at his Uncle, he spoke.

"Come on, Uncle. We're leaving." He glared at Zhao one last time, and turned to exit- but was cut off when two guards crossed their spears in front of him, and another guard approaches to speak to Zhao, who is waiting with a smug look on his face.

"Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed. They confirmed Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but let him escape, and Princess Lian was taken hostage." The guard reported as Zhao walked towards Zuko, and stopped right behind him with a scowl on his face.

"Now remind me," Zhao sneered as Zuko glared at the spears crossed before him. "_How was your ship damaged_?"

Zuko looks down at his feet, and gives a quiet sigh of defeat.

_I really wish you were here right now, Lian. _He closed his eyes, and clenched his fists. _I'm sorry. _

-0-

A pair of amber eyes gazed up at the Southern Air Temple with wonder as the sun shined over them.

Lian took a few steps away from Aang, Katara, and Sokka, but reminded herself not to wander too far as she reached up, and adjusted her hood over her golden hair, and continued to gaze around the Air temple.

It was gorgeous. Spectacular. And it's all built thousands of feet in the air.

This thought makes Lian slightly dizzy, but she quickly composes herself when she spots Aang run past her out of the corner of her eye, and her eyes follow him as he runs off into the Temple, leaving Lian with Katara and Sokka.

Just as Lian turns her eyes back up towards the Temple, Sokka speaks.

"So where do I get something to eat?" He asks as he rubs his stomach a few yards behind Lian.

Lian's expression goes from one of wonder, to dumbfounded as she turns on her heel, and shoots Sokka a look.

"You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to _ever _visit an airbender temple and _all _you can think about is food?" Katara retorts as she rolls her eyes, and begins to walk after Aang. Sokka begins to walk after her as Lian walks forwards as well, now next to Katara, and right in front of Sokka.

"I'm just a simple guy with simple needs." Sokka replies as he shrugs his shoulders, and looks around the temple.

Lian scoffed, and Sokka snapped his head towards her with a pointed glare.

The trio finally finds Aang waiting for them at the end of a path, and he turns to flash them a smile as he points down excitedly towards what Lian could only describe as a court made of poles.

"What is that?" Lian asked as she nodded down at the court below them. Aang looks towards it, and smiles even wider.

"That's where my friends and I used to play air ball!" Aang chirped happily as Lian walked closer to the edge, and inspected the grounds below them.

Everything looked terribly overgrown, and then air ball court looked as though it had not been tended to in, well, _centuries_.

"And …over there is where the bison would sleep…and…" Aang trails off, and Lian looks up from the grounds, and up at the boy standing beside her.

"What's wrong?" Katara asks behind Lian and Aang.

Aang didn't answer at first, and Lian reached forwards, and placed a warm, comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, causing him to look up, and send Lian a weak smile, which she returned in full.

"This place used to be filled with monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds." He answered as he looked towards the grounds with a sad expression on his face, and Lian frown at the boy.

"I can't believe how much things have changed." He said softly. Lian felt a pang in her chest, and gave Aang's shoulder a gentle squeeze, and Aang cast Lian a sorrowful glance in response.

Lian opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Sokka interrupted.

"So, uh, this air ball game?" Sokka began as he walked up to Lian and Aang as the Princess dropped her hand from Aang's shoulder. "How do you play?"

-0-

After Aang had begun to explain the game to Sokka, Lian had chosen to wander off on her own, exploring the temple and its vast array of carvings and the few artifacts that she could find. Most of which were in pieces- but they were still there.

Its only when she looks up at the carving on the air temple wall that she feels her heart clench in guilt, and she finally releases the pent up, shaky sigh that she had been holding in all morning, and lowered her hood.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered to herself as she looked away from the carving on the wall, and then turned her back to it.

The apology was meant for more than just Aang. More than just the lives that the Fire Nation had taken. It was for the family she had chosen to leave on her own accord.

_I'm sorry Zuko. But this is for _my_ sanity. As my best friend, and my brother, I'm sure you would understand._ She recited to herself in her head.

But after a moment of contemplating- she looked up towards the ceiling and rolled her eyes at herself.

"No he wouldn't." She muttered to herself as she looked back down, and brought her hood back up over her golden hair.

When she began walking again, she realized that she had only walked in a large circle when she spotted Sokka fly off of the air ball court, and land on the ground a few feet away.

Lian continued to walk forward as she watched Sokka call his sister over, and point to an object on the ground near him. Katara rushes over, and without a second thought, she calls over Aang- just as Lian gets close enough to see the object Sokka called his sister over for.

A fire nation helmet.

When Lian is finally close enough to hear Aang's shouts, Katara suddenly raises up her arms, and waterbends the snow over the helmet- and Sokka, just in time for Aang, and Lian to approach them.

"What is it?" Aang asked excitedly as he looked around for signs of anything different.

Katara exchanges a wary look with her brother, and then looks back at Aang with a weak smile.

"Uh… just a new waterbending move I learned." She said with uncertainty that Aang didn't seem to notice.

"Nice one. But enough practicing. We have a whole Temple to see!" He said excitedly as he ran between Katara and Lian, and disappeared inside of the Temple.

Lian then faced Katara and Sokka, whom was wiping the snow off of his face and shoulders, and sighed, causing them both to look at her.

"You know," She began as she looked Katara directly in the eyes. "You can't protect him forever."

-0-

**I hope you guys liked it! Feel free to leave a review and follow! **


	4. The Southern Air Temple Part II

Chapter Four

The Southern Air Temple Part II

"Katara, firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't." Sokka hissed as Aang ran off through the main entrance to the Temple, leaving Sokka, Katara, and Lian a moment to speak alone.

Lian made a small sound, that was similar to a chuckle, and Katara and Sokka looked back at her with annoyed and confused looks on their faces. Lian just smirked, and then moved to walk in between the siblings.

"Well, there's one here right now, but no one thought to mention that." Lian shrugged as she walked in between them, and then stopped to turn back around and face them.

Katara's eyebrow rose at Lian's comment, and Sokka just crossed his arms and narrowed his blue eyes at the Princess before turning back to his sister.

"Katara-" Sokka began, but was cut off by Katara's raised hand.

"I can pretend. For Aang's sake." She spoke softly before lowering her hand, and moving past Lian and Sokka with the intention of catching up with Aang.

Lian followed Katara with her eyes with her blonde eyebrows raised, and then turned to exchange a look with Sokka- that was only met with a short glare, and then followed by a huff and him walking past Lian without a second thought.

"If Aang finds out that the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated." Katara spoke as Lian shot Sokka's back a weird look, and the moved to follow them.

"Hey guys!" Aang called from outside the Temple. The sound of his voice caused Lian, Katara, and Sokka to all look towards the entrance at once.

The trio walked through the entrance together just to spot Aang standing before a statue of an airbender monk. Lian gazed up at the statue along with Katara and Sokka with wide eyes as she reached up, and held her hood on her head.

"I want you to meet somebody." Aang spoke happily as he motioned up to the statue, his gray eyes aglitter. Lian grinned at his words, and turned to look at Aang.

"Who's that?" She asked as she nodded her head towards the statue politely, and watched as Aang gazed up at the monk with a smile worth a million gold pieces.

"Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world." He said with dazed and awed tone to his voice. Lian smiled at the boy, and then looked back up at the statue as Aang continued to speak. "He taught me everything I know."

Lian gazed up at the statue as Aang bowed to Monk Gyatso.

He looked incredibly wise, yet somehow, the statue caught the twinkle of mischief in his eyes, and humble smile on his lips.

Katara reached forwards towards Aang, and placed a hand on his shoulder as Lian looked back towards them, and sent him a solemn look.

"You must miss him." She said softly as Aang looked down towards the bottom of the statue with a frown, and his expression hidden from them as he turned his head away.

"Yeah." Is all Aang replies with when he begins to walk away from Lian, Katara, and Sokka, and moves to enter the air temple once more.

"Where are you going?" Katara questions as she moved forwards a few steps behind him. Sokka and Lian remained where they were standing for a moment longer before Lian took the first step towards Aang and Katara.

"The Air Temple Sanctuary." Aang answered as he continued to walk forwards, but now with his three friends trailing behind him. "There's someone I'm ready to meet."

Katara gives Aang's back a questioning look, and turns her head to exchange a look with her brother and Lian, who both respond with shrugs.

As the quartet walks through the Air Temple halls, Katara begins to speak again, and soon enough, they're standing in front of a large door with intricate piping and the artistry of an air bending society.

"But Aang, no one could have survived in there for a hundred years." She reasoned as she motioned up towards the door, and looked towards the boy. Aang just shrugged, and Lian narrowed her eyes curiously at his response.

"It's not impossible." He reasons. "I survived in an iceberg for that long."

Lian's eyebrows rise at this comment, and she makes a small sound.

"Well that answers my question." She mutters to herself as she continues to look up at the door while the trio before her glance back at her. Aang is the first to move on, and he points at the door as he looks towards Katara.

"Katara, whoever's in there might help me figure out this Avatar thing!" He says excitedly as he takes a step towards the doors.

"And whoever's in there might have a _medley_ of delicious, cured meats!" Sokka tittered as he rubbed his hands together near Lian, causing her to look over at him with a disinterested expression.

Sokka runs towards the door full speed in a fevered anticipation, and hits the door with a loud _thunk_, and then strains against the giant door to no avail, and slides down to the floor in defeat.

"For some reason or another, Sokka, I highly doubt there's any meat in there." Lian said from her spot behind Katara and Aang, whom both chuckled at her comment as Sokka looked up from his spot on the floor, and glared at her.

"Yeah, well we'll see about that now won't we?" Sokka spat back as he looked pointedly at Lian, rolled her eyes. Lian just smirked at him.

"Yes, we will."

Katara eyed the door for a moment before Sokka finally turned his glare away from Lian, and looked towards Aang.

"I don't suppose you have a key?" He asked dryly as he stands and dusts himself off.

Aang grinned, closed his eyes, and held up a finger, just as a wise man would to an impatient child.

"The key, Sokka, is air bending." Aang answered before he draws in a deep breath, composes himself, and then takes and air bending stance.

Lian watched with curious eyes as Aang held out his arms perpendicular to his body, and then before Lian could even prepare herself, he pushed forwards with his arms, stepped forwards with his right foot, and air bended to powerful jets of air from each arm.

The door gave an almost musical howl as the air bending symbols began to flip over from maroon to sky blue, and the two leaves of the door finally open to reveal the vast, dark insides of the sanctuary.

Aang was the first to move forwards to the sanctuary as Lian slowly lowered her hood in awe.

"Hello?" He shouted with is childish voice. Lian walked forwards with Aang, Sokka, and Katara, and stopped at the threshold. "Anyone home?"

-0-

"So a twelve year old boy bested you, your best firebenders," Zhao spat as he circled Zuko and Iroh, who sat with their eyes towards the floor. "_And _your prodigal sister?"

Zuko averted his gaze when Zhao leaned towards him with a scowl on his face.

"You're more pathetic than I thought." He snarled.

Zuko narrowed his eyes at the floor, and then looked up to respond to Zhao's snarls.

"I underestimated him once, but it will not happen again." Zuko spoke with disappointment in his voice as he faced the man who was openly disgracing him.

Zhao's face remains straight and calm as he turns his back to Zuko, and narrowed his eyes at the wall.

"No, it will not, because you won't have a second chance." Zhao replied with venom. Zuko's eyes became wider than saucers, and he leaned forwards in his chair, gripping the arms of it until his knuckles turned white.

"Commander Zhao, I've been hunting the Avatar for _two years _and I-" Zhao cut him off as he rounded on him, flames erupting from his hand as he sweeps it from left to right directly in Zuko's face, causing him to pull back from the fire.

"And you _failed!"_He shouted violently as Zuko watched with wide eyes, and near horror on his features.

_No. No, no, no, you can't take this from me. You can't have this. _Zuko thought frantically as he tried to think of an argument against Zhao's decision. _I'M supposed to find the Avatar. I'M the one who will find my sister!_

Zhao now towers over Zuko, and his face is somewhat shadowed by the torches behind him.

"Capturing the Avatar and finding the Fire Nation's princess is too important to leave in a teenager's hands. He's _mine _now." Zhao announces as he glowers down at Zuko.

Zuko abruptly attempts to charge at Zhao in anger, but is restrained by the two guards behind his seat.

Zhao turns to leave, and just as he reaches for the curtain the separates himself from the dock and his office, he delivers an order to the guards.

"Keep them here." He growls before flicking the fire out of his way, and leaving the tent.

Zuko kicks the small table sitting next to his Uncle in a fury, and it breaks into pieces as Iroh watches with a calm demeanor that only Lian could duplicate.

Iroh then raises his tea cup, and looks towards the guards.

"More tea please?"

-0-

Lian continued to gaze down at her toes that were grazing the threshold of the sanctuary.

_Not one firebender has been inside of this sanctuary, Lian. _She pondered as she looked up from her feet, and looked up just in time to hear Sokka complain about the lack of meat. _Do you really want to ruin that?_

"Told you." Lian chirped dryly from her spot at the threshold.

The three look back at her, Katara and Aang with expressions of confusion, and Sokka with a pointed glower. Sokka threw up his hands, and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He snapped, causing Katara to shoot him a deadpan expression from the corner of her eyes.

"Lian, why don't you come in?" Aang asked as he took a step towards the Princess, and motioned towards the rest of the room.

Lian looked around the room uncertainly and then back at Aang as she began to wring her hands together.

"I don't know Aang." She began warily. Aang raised an eyebrow at her tone. "It's just that… it doesn't feel right for me to go inside such a… _sacred, _place, being a firebender and all."

Aang just shrugged, and ran over to Lian, snatched her hand and pulled her inside with a gentle tug.

Lian felt her chest tighten as she entered, and her expression turned to one of horror as he toes passed the threshold.

_I shouldn't be here._

"It's alright! Katara's a water bender. Sokka's _not_- a -bender." Aang shrugged with a smile on his face. Lian frowned at the boy's naivety, and unwillingly followed him into the swirl of statues.

"Aang that's not what-" Before Lian could finish, Katara quickly shouted out her question.

"Who are all these people?" She asked loudly as she pretended to look around, when she was really looking pointedly at Lian, who only turned her face away with a puckered brow and crossed her arms.

Aang looked around for a moment, squinting his eyes in the darkness as he moved between the statues.

"I don't know. But it feels like I know them somehow." Aang said apprehensively. Suddenly his expression switches to excitement, and he points at a statue. "That one's an airbender!" He shouted eagerly.

Katara pointed at another one wearing what appeared to be furs and boots.

"And this one's a water bender!" She announced. "They're line up in a pattern. Air, water, earth, and fire."

"That's the Avatar cycle." Aang spoke as he examined the statue in front of him, and then moved to look at the others.

Lian walked around as well, but kept her distance from the others.

"Of course! They're Avatars!" Katara almost slapped her own forehead in realization, and motioned about the room filled to the top with level among level of statues. "All of these people are your past lives, Aang."

Aang looked around in wonder, and Lian walked up beside him in the next row of statues, her eyes also examining the levels upon levels of Aang's past lives.

"Wow!" Aang marvels. "There's so many!"

"Yeah…" Lian gaped as she began to wonder just how far up the statues went. Her mind wandered and she even began to wonder who the first Avatar was.

"Past lives?" Sokka the skeptical asked with an almost dry tone to his voice. Lian squinted an eye at the ceiling at his remark, and then looked back down, and spotted him standing between two statues with his hands resting on each one's shoulders. "You really believe in that stuff?" He asked as he waved one of his hands around on the statue's shoulder.

"You don't?" Lian shot back at him, causing him to grumble, and narrow his eyes at the statue in front of him. Katara gave a short chuckle, and moved to stand next to Lian.

"It's true. When the Avatar dies he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle." Katara explained to her brother as he followed his sister with narrow eyes. Lian nodded in agreement with Katara's words, and Sokka scoffed once more, and then threw his hands up in the air as he turned away from his sister and the Princess.

Lian rolled her amber eyes, and then turned to look towards Aang, who hadn't spoken for a while, and spotted him standing in front of a statue, just gazing up at it, not moving a muscle and his gray eyes wide open.

"Aang?" Lian said from her spot next to Katara, who looked towards Aang as well at the sound of Lian's tone. When Aang didn't respond to Lian, Katara exchanged a look with the firebender, and then moved towards the boy.

"Aang?" Katara echoed Lian's voice as she moved to touch Aang's shoulder. When he still didn't respond, she frowned deeply.

"Aang, snap out of it!" She practically shouted, causing the air bender to jump slightly. He looked dazed when he looked at Katara, and then Lian, who also looked concerned just as the water tribe girl did.

"Huh?" Aang said as he looked at the two girls in confusion.

Lian only raised an eyebrow at him, and Katara gave a small laugh.

"Who is that?" Katara asked as she pointed up to the statue Aang had been staring at.

Aang looked up at the statue as Lian and Sokka walked over, and gave it a smile.

"That's Avatar Roku. The Avatar before me." He promptly answered. Sokka looked up at the statue, and scoffed, causing Lian and Katara to look towards him.

"You were a firebender?" He said incredulously. . Lian narrowed her eyes at him. "No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met!"

Lian narrowed her eyes at Sokka and Katara rolled her eyes.

"How nice of you." Lian spat as she looked away from Sokka and crossed her arms. Sokka just shot Lian a look at then scoffed loudly. Katara slowly looked away from the two, and then looked towards Aang.

"There's no writing? How do you know his name?" She questioned as Lian walked away from the group, and moved towards the door.

"I'm not sure," Aang said wearily, as if it bothered him too. "I just do."

Sokka suddenly growled in frustration, and threw his hands in the air at Aang's response.

"You just couldn't get any weirder!" He shouted, causing his voice to echo in the sanctuary.

"_Hush_, loud one!" Lian suddenly commanded from her spot behind a statue. Katara, Aang, and Sokka abruptly looked towards her with confused expressions on their faces. She was hiding behind a statue of an earth bender with her head just peeking out from over its shoulder, and her eyes focused on what was outside of the door.

"I hear something." She whispered just loud enough for them to hear from their spot across the sanctuary.

The three exchanged a look, and then rushed up to Lian, and hid behind the statues nearby her. Katara and Aang behind one, and Lian and Sokka behind the other.

A long eared shadow began to approach between the two statues the kids were hiding behind, and Sokka pulled out his boomerang.

"Firebender! Nobody make a sound!" He whispered loudly. Lian's expression dropped and turned to annoyance as she scoffed at his words.

"Oh yeah, _this_ firebender definitely can't hear you from here." Lian sneered as she pointed at herself with her thumb, and then peeked around the earth bender statue's leg. Sokka glowered down at Lian and then raised his boomerang up and pretended to hit her over the head with hit as a vein in his temple throbbed.

"You don't' count right now!" Sokka growled at Lian, who had just pulled her head back behind the statue. "Don't. Make. A. _Sound._"

"You're making a sound!" Katara snapped at him as Lian rubbed her face with her hand, and then pressed a finger to her lips.

"_Shh!" _Lian demanded as she leaned over and peeked around the corner again.

They were quiet for a few moments longer before Sokka peeked over the statue's shoulder.

"That firebender won't know what hit him." Sokka said smugly as he rose up his boomerang. Lian gazed up at him with an aggravated look.

"He will if you keep talking!" She spat as she looked back down at the shadow, and then brought her head back in surprise.

Suddenly, Sokka jumps out from behind the statue with a war cry, and Lian, Aang, and Katara walk out to take a look. Lian snorted, and then began laughing hysterically when her eyes landed on the long eared creature before them.

Aang's eyes lit up with enthusiasm when he spots the small creature casting the giant shadow before it, and his mouth grows wide with a smile as Lian finally pulls herself off of the floor and points at the animal with laugher still spilling out between her lips.

"Lemur!" Aang shouts as he points at the animal before them, whom is now gazing at them with large, curious green eyes with its ears pushed back.

"Oh yeah, Sokka. That's one _terrifying _firebender you've got there!" Lian laughs as she reached up and wipeed a tear from her face as Katara begins to giggle next to her. "You might want to catch him before he goes to get reinforcements!" Finally, Katara begins to laugh hysterically along with Lian, and when the two girls look up, their laughter stops abruptly at the sight of Sokka drooling like a hungry wolf-fox.

"Ew…"Lian sneered as Katara smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand at the sight of her brother drooling.

"Dinner…" Sokka moaned as he rose up his boomerang almost robotically at the animal, and Aang's eyes widened in fear for the animal.

"Don't listen to him!" Aang shouted at the animal as if he could understand him. "You're going to be my new pet!"

"Not if I get to him first!" Sokka shouts as he darts towards the creature, and then Aang, who catches up with ease due to his airbending.

The two girls watched as Sokka and Aang sprinted after the lemur, their voices fading the further they ventured into the temple. Lian snorted, and reached to pull up her hood as she began to walk towards the doors of the sanctuary, and Katara followed with a small smirk on her face.

"Boys are stupid." Lian joked as the two walked out of the sanctuary, leaving the rows and rows of Avatar statues behind them. Katara just laughed in response, and then shook her head.

"They each have their moments though," Katara shrugged as the two girls followed the sounds of the boy's voices. "We just haven't seen them yet."

Lian laughed at Katara's crack at the boys, and then turned to look at the waterbending girl.

"Katara?" She said gently. Katara looked towards Lian with raised eyebrows, and made a small sound, acknowledging that she was listening. Lian looked at the floor, and then back at Katara before speaking.

"How come you came to trust me so easily?" Lian asked suddenly, causing Katara to nearly stop where she stood.

Katara looked down at the ground ahead of her as she walked, sighed, and then looked forwards once more.

"Because Aang trusted _you._"

-0-

Zhao's calloused hands pushed the flaps of the tent open with vigor, and the two guards already standing at the door draw back their spears upon his entrance almost robotically, and Zuko looks up from his clenched fists, and scowls at the man standing before him.

"My search party is ready." Zhao announced smugly as Zuko glowered up at him. "Once I'm out to sea, you'll be free to go."

"What? Are you afraid I'm going to try and stop you?" Zuko sneered from his seat in front of Zhao, whose eyes darted down towards Zuko at his threat. But then, Zhao smirked, and to add salt to the gash he had already left in Zuko's pride, he laughed, and threw his head back slightly.

"You? Stop me?" He hackled. "That's impossible."

Zuko growled, and in his defiance, burst out of his seat, and invaded Zhao's personal space. Iroh looked up with slightly concerned eyes as he took a sip of his tea, and finally put down his cup to watch the two argue.

"Don't underestimate me, Zhao!" Zuko snarled like a saber tooth moose lion whose territory had just been threatened. "I _will _capture the Avatar, _and _find my sister _before _you!" Zuko spat as he leaned closer to Zhao, who only glowered down at him with such an intense hatred that heat began to roll off of him in waves.

"Prince Zuko, that is enough!" Iroh exclaimed as he stood from his seat and attempted to reign in his nephew, but Zuko pulled away from him, keeping himself out of Iroh's reach.

Zhao suddenly scoffed loudly, and Zuko growled.

"You can't compete with me. I have hundreds of warships under my control, and you? You're just a banished Prince." He practically laughed as he looked down at Zuko with a sneer. "No home. No allies. Your own father doesn't even want you."

Zuko seemed to back off slightly at this low blow, but never the less, continued to fight with Zhao as he looked away from him.

"You're wrong." Zuko snapped back at him. _I have Lian. Lian was my ally. _"Once I deliver the Avatar to my father he will welcome me home with honor, and restore my rightful place to the throne.

Zhao gives a slime ridden laugh, and Zuko grits his teeth at the man.

"If your father really wanted you home, he'd have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar." Zhao spat venomously as he glowered at Zuko. "But in his eyes you are a _failure _and _disgrace _to the Fire Nation."

"That's not true." Zuko spat in return.

Zhao smiled, and Iroh new the worst was coming next.

"You have the scar to prove it." Zhao almost purred as he smirked like the Cheshire cat.

That was when the last string of restraint Zuko had- snapped.

With a primal cry of indignation he lunged towards Zhao, and within inches to his face, his teeth grit and his eyes aflame.

"Maybe you'd like one to match!" Zuko snarled through his teeth as Zhao glared down at him.

"Is that a challenge?" Zhao questioned with the same indigent purr in his voice that grated against Zuko's nerves.

"An _Agni Kai._" Zuko proposed. "At sunset."

Zhao then sent Zuko a sly, and almost terrifying smirk, and moved away from Zuko to exit the tent.

"Very well." He agreed as he walked towards the exit of the tent. "It's a shame your father won't be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your _Uncle _will do."

And with that, Zhao left the tent, and Iroh moved towards his nephew whom was still fuming at the events that had previously unfolded before him.

"Prince Zuko, have you forgotten the last time you dueled a Master?" Iroh questioned incredulously as he watched his nephew for any signs of regret. None were to be found.

Zuko looked down towards the floor, and then back up at the exit with determination written across his features.

"I will _never _forget."

-0-

It's when Lian is back in the sanctuary by herself, she knows that something has gone terribly wrong.

Katara had left her alone to find the boys and rein them in, and Lian had decided to return to the sanctuary to gaze upon the statues. As she discovered, each one was different, yet they were all the same being, just reincarnated versions of them.

It was amazing to think that Aang had so many past lives. So many past lives that did so much good for the world, so much to heal it.

While Lian was alone in the sanctuary she finally lights the first flame in the palm of her hand since she had arrived at the Air Temple.

It seemed wrong at first, and she contemplated putting the flame out to respect the Air Nomads that had been destroyed by fire.

But after a few moments of gazing about the cave with the light of her flame to help her see the details of the statues, she kept the fire alive, and dared to lean in close to the statues, gaze into their eyes, and touch the engraved and highly detailed necklaces, dimples, and stone clothing.

It's when she looks into Avatar Roku's eyes, they suddenly glow- and Lian's fire is suddenly smothered by a sharp gust of wind- she knows.

Directly after Lian jumps back from Avatar Roku's statue, the rest of the statue's eyes begin to glow, one by one in their spiral pattern as they rise all the way to the top where when Lian looks up, all she can see it the blue glow of their eyes all melded together.

"Aang." She whispered in alarm as she gazed up at the statues. She stumbles away from them, running into the same earth bender statue she had hidden behind earlier as she moved towards the entrance. "Aang!" She shouted as she finally turned on her heel, and ran full speed towards the front of the Temple.

Lian runs so hard that the hood covering her golden hair flies off of her head and falls onto her back, and her heart pounds as she begins to feel the wind growing stronger and stronger.

Finally, she comes upon a dilapidated building that is shaking and trembling under the stress that is caused by the gales of wind, and spots Katara rush towards just as Lian leaps over a stone rail to reach it.

Just as Lian joins Katara in front of the building's entrance, Sokka flies out of it, screaming at the top of his lungs, and his back slams directly into Lian's stomach with full force, sending the two teenagers tumbling back on stone and patches of weeds before rolling to a stop.

Katara ran up to them, and pulled Sokka up as Lian sat on the ground, and rubbed her scraped forehead with her hand as she gazed at the shuddering building.

"What happened?" Katara shouted over the violent winds as Lian finally moved to stand, and latched onto Sokka's shirt for support- and to her surprise, he reached out without looking at her, and offered her a hand to help her up with, which Lian accepted without a sarcastic comment or a look of surprise. At this moment, she was only concerned for Aang.

"He found out fire benders kills Gyatso." Sokka announced over the winds as they all began to run towards the building, fighting against the winds and the debris that moved faster than any of them could even imagine.

"It's his Avatar Spirit!" Lian shouted as they finally reached the entrance, and all three of them could see Aang. "He must have triggered it!"

Katara gasped loudly as she laid eyes on Aang, up in his sphere of energy and violently swirling air. Lian could see bones of Fire Nation soldiers flying about them, helmets piled over corpses that had rotted centuries ago, and finally, Monk Gyatso's orange and yellow clad skeleton- and the same wooden necklace that had been around his neck at his statue.

"I'm gonna try and calm him down!" Katara shouted over the winds as Lian held a hand over her eyes, and squinted at Aang along with Sokka.

"Well do it before he blows us off the mountain!" Sokka yells in return as Lian ducks to avoid a fire nation helmet, and crouches further behind the pile of debris.

Lian watched in suspense as Katara struggled to get to Aang through the malevolent winds, and prayed to the Sun that she would end the madness.

-0-

Back at the Firebending stadium, a crowd awaits the Agni Kai between the banished prince Zuko, and the renowned Commander Zhao.

"Remember your firebending basics, Zuko. They are your greatest weapons." Iroh spoke wisely as he watched his nephew stand from his kneeling position, and glower at the fighting floor.

"I refuse to let him win." Zuko said in response as he moved towards the floor along with Zhao, who was on the other across it.

The shoulder wrap Zuko was wearing falls to the ground ceremoniously, and Zhao stands, and turns, his shoulder wrap falling as well- just as Zuko's had.

At the top of the gate, the gong sounds, and both men face each other, and assume their firebending stances. They remain at a standoff for a few moments before Zuko scowls, and thrusts a fist forwards at Zhao, sending a wild shot of fire at Zhao, which passes harmlessly to the Commander's left, and then fires another that Zhao easily evades to his right.

In his frustration, Zuko fires off several more, and Zhao avoids each one, and then blocks the last with his own fire with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Zuko can feel himself becoming frustrated, and losing control of his breath as he fights and fights but to no avail, but he still moves forwards towards Zhao, and fires off a volley of fire at the Commander from his hands and feet. To Zuko's fury, Zhao blocks and dodges every blast of fire Zuko fires at him.

_The breath, Zuko, remember the breath._ Lian's voice reminded him in his head as Zhao's movements began to slow down in his mind- just not fast enough.

Zhao fires a low shot of fire towards Zuko, and the Prince narrowly avoids it.

"Basics, Zuko! Break his root!" Iroh shouted from the sidelines with lines of worry written all over his face.

Zhao fires multiple volleys of flames at the Prince, alternating between each dangerous fist as Zuko blocks each and every one of them. But even though the prince successfully blocks every blow, he has been pushed back.

The last blast the Zhao fires at him is fired with both fists, and Zuko is knocked over into the dirt on his back. Zhao doesn't hesitate for a second, and takes a flying leap at Zuko, who narrowly avoids the blast of fire that Zhao sends his way.

But as Zuko rises, he swings his leg around towards Zhao's rooted feet, and knocks them out from underneath him, and the Commander lands on his back with a loud grunt.

Zuko lands on his feet, and at the sight of the Commander struggling to stand, he smiles slightly, and moves to attack once again.

As Zhao stands, he glowers at Zuko, and swings out his fist with a cry of fury towards the boy, and the shot of fire goes wild as it flies towards the Prince.

In a second, Zuko recalls Lian's favorite trick where the girl would catch her opponents fire, twist her hands in an elegant circle to tame the fire, and then smother it. The first time she had done this was to irritate their sister, Azula, and ever since, she has used it to tease her enemies with her power.

So in a split second decision, Zuko reached out, and caught the flame calmly, and copied his sister's movements for the first time since she had invented the move.

Zuko's hands twisted the fire into submission, and then, as Zhao finally stumbled to his feet, and turned to glare at the prince, Zuko smothered the flame by pressing his hands together, and in a last ditch effort to infuriate his opponent, he even swiped the soot left by the smoke off of his hand, onto the floor.

Iroh nearly cheers from excitement from his spot at the edge of the arena, and smiles at the thought of how proud Lian would have been if she could have seen her brother now.

Before Zhao can even process what Zuko has done, Zuko fires at him, causing the Commander who has yet to find his root again to stagger back as the Prince sprints towards him with, leaving a trail of fire in his wake.

Iroh clenches his fist with anticipation, and his face shines with hope as he watches his nephew.

Just as Iroh begins to smile, Zuko lays Zhao out on the ground, and sprints towards him to deliver the final blow.

But, just as he is about to burn Zhao just as he had been burned, his angered expression flickers to indecision.

"Do it!" Zhao snarls from underneath Zuko's grasp.

Zuko growled, and then without another thought shot a blast of fire at Zhao, and with one last look, he moved away from the Commander, and began to walk off of the floor.

Zhao turned his head to the side, and observed the smoldering hole in the ground with a scowl, and then made his way up to his feet.

"That's it?" He demanded as Zuko walked away from him. "Your father raised a coward!"

Zuko turned his head, but did not honor Zhao with the pleasure of his stare.

"Next time you get in my way, I promise I won't hold back." He threatened before turning back around, and continuing his walk off of the floor.

But in with a howl of anger, Zhao declares that the argument is not over, and unleashes a whip of flame from his foot aimed towards the Prince's back.

But before the flame can move even an inch away from its creator- it is extinguished by a hand grasping Commander Zhao's foot.

It is Iroh who has stopped Zhao's dishonorable attack on the Prince, and now frowns at the man who's foot he holds before him.

Iroh simply pushes Zhao's foot with enough force for him to fall back onto the dirt, and watches as the man falls, and scowls up at him

Zuko moves to avenge the dishonorable attack with a growl, but his Uncle holds out an arm, and stops him.

"No, Prince Zuko. Do not taint your victory."Iroh spoke wisely as he grasps his nephew's shoulder, and frowns down at Commander Zhao as if he were a child who had drawn on the walls with his calligraphy brush.

"So this is how the _great _Commander Zhao acts in defeat." Iroh tisks as his nephew glares down at the man. "Disgraceful." He spat as he turned his nephew around, and began to move off of the floor.

"Even in exile my nephew is more honorable than you." Iroh spat at Zhao as Zuko's eyes shot open wide in surprise. "Thank you for the tea, it was delicious."

Iroh turns and begins to walk away, and Zuko follows closely behind as Zhao sits up in the dirt and watches them leaved with anger in his eyes.

Zuko leans towards his Uncle with an innocent look in his eyes, and he asks softly; "Did you really mean that Uncle?"

Iroh gave a sly smile, and continued forwards with his nephew.

"Of course." He chirped. "I told you ginseng was my favorite."

-0-

Lian watched Katara approach Aang with a hand holding on tightly onto Sokka's shirt, and her other hand holding onto the rock in front of her.

"Aang, I know you're upset…" Katara shouted calmly over the chaos as she shouted from nearby. She was much closer to Aang than Lian and Sokka would even dare at the moment. "…and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my Mom."

Lian inhaled sharply at Katara's mention of her mother, and she gripped Sokka's shirt harder as a drop of blood trickled down the side of her face from the scrape on her forehead. Sokka looked towards Lian for a moment, but did not protest when he realized that she was hanging onto his shirt.

_She's not the only one. _Lian thought to herself.

"Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family." Katara shouted again, her voice sounding sympathetic as she gazed up at Aang, whom was still up in the air, his eyes and arrows aglow. "Sokka, Lian, and I, we're your family now."

Soon enough, the malevolent winds begin to slow, and soon enough, Aang begins to descend from his place in the air, his eyes and arrows still glowing, and Katara and Sokka begin to move towards him. Lian is so dazed by the entire ordeal that she only begins to move when she feels her hand being tugged by Sokka's movement, and then quickly follows them.

Lian moved to stand in front of Aang, while Katara and Sokka stood at his sides; Sokka holding his shoulder.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you." Sokka spoke as he squeezed Aang's shoulder. Katara reaches to take Aang's hand, and his eyes and arrows begin to fade, leaving him with the eyes and arrows Lian had come to know over the past day and a half. Aang collapses, and Katara takes him into her arms, and hugs him as they kneel on the ground, where Lian and Sokka crouch next to them.

"I'm sorry." Aang croaks into Katara's shoulder. He sounds terribly weak, and his eyes are barely open.

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Katara purrs as she holds him in her arms. Lian watches with worried eyes, and hear heart goes out for the boy.

He's lost everything he's ever known in his entire life, and she couldn't even imagine how painful that could be.

"But you were right." Aang croaked as tear built up in his eyes. "And if firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones too."

Lian squeezed her eyes shut, and turned her head away, causing Sokka to look towards her, and frown.

"I really am the last airbender." Aang's voice trembled as Lian looked back at him, and then reached forwards, and placed a hand on top of his as Sokka placed a hand on his shoulder.

To her surprise, Aang took her hand in a vice grip as he cried in Katara's arms with his new family surrounding him.

-0-

Later, after everything had been packed and ready to go, Katara, Sokka, and Lian find Aang back in the sanctuary, staring up at Avatar Roku's statue with a ponderous look on his innocent face.

"Everything's packed. Ready to go?" Katara asked as she approached Aang, and looked up at Avatar Roku with him.

Sokka and Lian stood back a few feet from the two with a good amount of distance between the two of them. Lian had been patched up by Katara and was now walking around with a wrap around her forehead. But when Katara had been patching Lian up, she mentioned how she noticed that Sokka and Lian quarreled like the married couple back at the village.

Lian's eyes almost popped out of her skull and Sokka demanded his sister never mention anything about old married couples again.

"How is Roku supposed to help me if I can't talk to him?" Aang asked as he gazed up at Roku, and then looked at Katara.

"You'll find a way Aang." Lian spoke from her spot next to Sokka, causing the other three to look at her.

Aang smiled at Lian, and then his eyes suddenly averted to the doorway.

The lemur has returned with an armful of berries and nuts in his arms, and before anyone can say a word or move a single muscle, he darts forwards, dumps the berries and nuts at Sokka's feet, and then waits patiently for Sokka to accept or deny his offering.

Sokka immediately began to devour the berries off of the floor, causing Lian to look down at him with slight disgust, and take a few steps away.

"Looks like you made a new friend, Sokka." Aang chirped as the lemur darted towards the airbender, and scurried up his arm to rest on top of his head. Aang laughed as he nearly went crossed eyed trying to look at the animal, and Lian walked towards him to take a closer look at the tiny animal.

"Can't talk." Sokka replied with his mouth filled with berries. "Must eat."

"Hey little guy." Aang spoke to the lemur as it leaned over his head, and peeked into Aang's eyes.

When Lian approached, the lemur looked straight up at her with his little paws resting on top of Aang's head, and leaned forwards to get a good sniff.

Lian gave a small smile, and held a hand out towards the lemur, which he began to sniff right away. But to her surprise, the lemur made a sound similar to an excited chirp, and darted down her arm, and nestled itself around her neck underneath her hood.

"Oh!" Lian jumped as the lemur's tail tickled her neck, causing her to turn her head to the side only slightly so that she wouldn't disturb the lemur's comfortable spot. "He's tickling me!" She laughed as the lemur tittered from underneath her hair. Aang laughed along with her and reached towards the lemur to scratch its head.

"He _definitely_ likes you." Aang laughed as he watched the lemur make itself comfortable on Lian's neck.

Soon enough, the quartet made their way out to Appa, all ready to load up for their next adventure.

Lian still had the lemur wrapped around her neck as she walked up to Appa, and gently pet his snout, causing him to grunt with approval and move his head slightly underneath her touch.

Aang walked up to Lian, and gazed at the lemur with a sad smile on his face as he reached out and scratched his head again.

"You, me, and Appa." Aang sighed as he brought his hand away from the lemur, and looked towards the temple. "We're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together. Katara, Sokka, Lian…"

Sokka looked up at Aang and Lian with a mouth full of berries, and Katara stepped forwards and scratched the lemur's head.

"…say hello to the newest member of our family." Aang announced as the Lemur's head popped out of Lian's hood, and darted up to the top of her head, its tail grazing her neck as it went, causing her to giggle. Sokka laughed lightly at the sight, and then quickly stuffed his mouth full of berries, hoping no one had noticed.

"What are you going to name him?" Katara asked as she smiled up at the lemur sitting on Lian's head.

The lemur pounces off of Lian's head suddenly, and pounces at a piece of fruit, then quickly returned to the group, but settled on Aang's shoulder.

"Momo." He answered as the lemur ate the berry, and then promptly made its way back to Lian's neck, causing her to laugh again before she climbed onto Appa's saddle with Sokka and Katara, and settled into her place.

"I wonder why he likes that spot so much." Katara pondered as Appa pushed off of the ground, and began to fly away.

Lian raised an eyebrow, and then focused on her internal body heat, and slowly raised it up. Just as she suspected, the lemur nestled itself closer to her, and she giggled again at the movement.

"He likes the warmth." Lian answered with a smile as she reached up, and scratched the lemurs head.

As Katara accepted the answer and Sokka continued to eat his berries, Lian spotted Aang watching the Southern Air Temple disappear behind the clouds, and cast her eyes away from the sight.

_You can mend the wrongs done against the Avatar, Lian. You can help him heal._


	5. The Warriors of Kyoshi

*****PLEASE READ THIS FIRST*****

**I just wanted to give you guys a heads up and let you know that I've started school, which unfortunately means that updates will be coming in a bit slower than they have been (which quite frankly have been pretty decent for this story- so far). My goal is to update every Saturday OR Sunday, more than likely it will never be both. BUT I should be graduating in December, so this busy business won't last forever. **

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review and recommend this story to your friends! **

Chapter Five

The Warriors of Kyoshi

"You have no idea where you're going do you?"

Lian turned to look towards Sokka, who was seated next to her on the saddle- but a safe distance of two or three feet away- and then looked towards Aang, who was currently holding Appa's reigns with Momo sitting on his shoulder. Katara was busy sewing Sokka's pants, and didn't look up from her work.

Aang turned his head back to look at Sokka, and sent his friends and gave a small, slow shrug of his shoulders that made Lian raise an eyebrow at him.

"Weelll, I know it's near water…" Aang said as Lian cast a look over the side of the saddle, and smirked.

"Well. We must be getting close then." Lian laughed as her blonde hair flew about in the wind. Sokka sent Lian and Aang a dry look, and then looked back down at the map with a huff as Lian turned back around in her spot, and crossed her legs so that she was sitting Indian style, and began to play with a little ball of fire on the tip of her pointer finger. When she saw Katara pull her needle back from the corner of her eye, she glanced up at the water bender, and watched as she sewed with interest.

After a few moments of watching, Aang spoke, and Lian looked towards him to discover that he had been watching Katara as well.

"Momo, marbles please." Aang asked the lemur politely as he smiled at Momo, who chattered in response, and then dove into Aang's robe, causing Lian to watch with a slightly surprised look on her face as Momo popped back out a moment later with a tiny, shining, gray marble, which Aang takes with a thank you, and then turns to look back at Katara.

Lian began to smirk as she watched Aang smile at Katara, and then chirp happily.

"Hey Katara! Check out this airbending trick!" Aang spoke with glee as he suspended the marble between his hands in mid-air, and then made it whirl around so quickly that it became a blur. Lian watches with interest, but Katara does not look up from her work, and Aang's expression falls.

"That's great Aang." Katara replied absentmindedly as she continued to sew. Lian noticed Aang's face fall at her response, and he stopped spinning the marble as Lian looked towards Katara.

"You didn't even look." Aang said, the crushed tone was evident to Lian, and she turned back to Aang as Katara finally looked up, and sent Aang a small smile.

"That's great!" Katara chirped.

"But I'm not doing it now." Aang frowned as Lian reached out, and smiled at him.

"I thought it was pretty cool, Aang." Lian smiled, causing Aang's expression to brighten slightly, although, Lian could still tell that he was upset that Katara hadn't paid attention to him.

Sokka made a sound from his spot next to Lian, and Aang and Lian looked towards him. He was laying back with his hands behind his head and his feet propped up on a sleeping bag, but then waved a hand at Katara, who was back to fixing Sokka's pants.

"Stop bugging her, airhead." Sokka spoke as he gazed up at the clouds with a flippant expression. "You need to give girls space when they do their sewing." He finished.

Lian and Katara's expressions changed on a silver piece, and both of them glared at him with a warning of danger in their eyes.

"What does being a girl have to do with sewing?" Lian spat as she glared at Sokka, who only turned a lazy eye towards Lian, and then waved a hand at her dismissively, causing Lian's eyebrows to shoot up at his gesture.

"Simple: girls are better at fixing pants than guys, and guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that." Sokka replied nonchalantly. Lian could feel her anger rising as Katara and she continued to glare at him. "It's just the natural order of things." He shrugged as Katara bundled the pants up in her hands angrily.

"Really?" Lian spat with an obviously false sweetness to her voice that caused Sokka to turn his head towards her. "Because I've never _sewn_ a day in my life, and I've always been able to _hunt_ and _fight_."

Sokka scoffed, and looked back towards the clouds.

"Yeah, right." He practically laughed. Lian growled, and small bursts of fire spouted from her hands as she turned her back to Sokka, and leaned on the side of the saddle. Aang watched her for a moment with raised eyebrows, and then looked back towards Katara and Sokka when he saw Sokka's pants land on the water tribe boy's head.

"All done with your pants!" Katara snapped with exaggerated happiness, just as Lian had. "And look what a _great _job I did!"

Lian cast a glance at Sokka at Katara's words, and gave a quiet snigger as she watched Sokka yank the pants off of his head, and stick his hand through the giant hole in the seat of the pants.

"Wait! I was kidding! I can't wear these!" He cried out as he shook the pants with his hand still through the hole.

"Don't worry Sokka, where we're going, you won't need any pants!" Aang chirped from Appa's reigns as he guided the troop down towards an crescent shaped island with snowcapped mountains. Lian watched curiously as they came closer and closer, until finally Appa landed on the beach, and she practically rolled about on the ground in glee.

"Did I mention I hate flying?" Lian chirped from her spot in the sand as she made a sand angel, and smiled up at the sun. Sokka looked down at her with a deadpan expression, and Katara just gave a small chuckle as Aang jumped off of Appa's head, and landed gently nearby and pet Appa's nose.

Momo chattered, ran to Lian, and laid out next to her and began making his own sand angel.

"Have fun getting all of that sand off of you." Katara chuckled as she watched Lian roll off of her current sand angel just to make another. Lian just shrugged, and continued merrily without a care in the world.

Finally Sokka looked away from Lian, and looked towards Aang, who was beyond excited about riding the elephant koi.

"We just made a pit stop yesterday. Shouldn't we get more flying done before we camp out?" He questioned, causing Lian to sit up abruptly with a frown on her face, and sand flying everywhere.

"He's right. At this rate we won't get to the North Pole until spring." Katara added, causing Lian to fold her arms, and glare at the two.

"What's wrong with being on land for a little bit?" Lian almost whined as Sokka looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. The girl was coated in sand from head to toe.

"But Appa's tired already." Aang lied as he leaned over towards Appa, and elbowed him as Lian plopped back into the sand with a content sigh. "Aren't you, boy?"

When Appa didn't comply with Aang's less than discreet nudge, Aang elbowed him again.

"I said _aren't you, boy?" _Aang emphasized as Appa turned his large head slightly towards Aang, and then gave a less than convincing yawn that Lian chuckled at from her place in the sand.

Sokka sent the two a look, and then shrugged.

"Yep, that was _real _convincing. Still, hard to argue with a ten ton magical monster." Sokka sighed as he watched Aang move towards the bay, and then glanced at Lian, who was still coated with sand.

"Aren't you going to get that off of you?" Sokka suddenly asked Lian, causing her to open an eye at him, and then close it as she allowed to sun to warm her.

Lian shook her head, causing more sand to collect in her hair.

"Nope." She replied, popping the 'p' with a smirk on her face. Sokka just frowned, and then moved towards the bay with Aang.

Lian finally sat up when Katara and Sokka moved away, and then stood to shake the sand off of her clothes, taking the time to shake out her shirt, then her pants, and then take off her shoes and let the sand flow out as she heard Aang splash about in the water.

Lian glanced up, and saw Aang swimming towards the elephant koi swimming in the bay, and then returned to shaking the sand out of her shoes. She then moved onto her hair as Katara cheered Aang on, and leaned over to shake it out with her hands.

A whole sandcastle might has well of fallen out of her hair as Momo began to shake out next to her.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea…" Lian pondered quietly as she continued to shake sand out of her golden locks. Momo chirped next to her in agreement, and she chuckled.

Lian looked down at the lemur, and watched as he reached into his massive ear with is paw and began to scoop out a ridiculous amount of sand.

"Regretting it now too, huh?" She asked Momo with a smirk, who looked up at the Princess with his wide green eyes that showed no sign of understanding.

Lian was about to begin plaiting her when Sokka shouted in alarm, and Katara came running back.

"There's something in the water!" Sokka shouted as Lian began to run towards them, her hair bouncing and occasionally releasing more sand as she approached, and stopped next to Sokka.

Katara stood next to her brother, and watched the water where Aang was riding on the elephant koi with wide eyes. Lian scanned the water around Aang, and her eyes landed on a shadow quickly approaching the elephant koi behind Aang.

"What's wrong?" She asked with a slightly alarmed tone to her voice.

"Aang's in trouble." Sokka replied as the three moved closer to the bay.

Lian's feet plopped into the water, and she began to shout towards Aang with her hands cupped around her mouth.

"_Get out of there_!" Lian shouted at the top of her lungs as Sokka and Katara began to join in.

Aang saw them, but he waved and smiled, obviously misinterpreting their frantic gestures.

The elephant koi suddenly bucked, and Lian cringed as Aang went flying off of the giant creature, and flew headlong into the bay.

For a moment, he stayed underwater, and then, to Lian, Katara, and Sokka's relief, he popped back up, spat out some water, and continued to gasp for air.

But just as the trio on the beach began to believe that Aang was finally safe- an enormous fin began to emerge out of the water.

Lian moved further into the water, which was now up to her knees, and shouted at Aang in alarm along with Sokka and Katara, whom were practically screaming and jumping up in down.

"AANG MOVE!" Lian screamed as she frantically waved her arms.

Aang finally turned around and saw the fin, and almost comically- if his life hadn't been in danger- he leapt to the surface of the water, and with his airbender, ran on the surface full speed, and even once he was free of danger and the creature retreated, he continued to run, causing him to run full speed into Sokka, and catapult the two into the tree line with a loud grunt.

Lian splashed her way out of the water, and moved towards the two boys as their heads spun.

"You okay?" Lian asked as she held out a hand to Aang, and Katara to Sokka. Aang did a quick check of his limbs, and then held up a thumbs up to Lian, who sighed in relief.

"What was that thing?" Katara asked as she looked towards Aang and Lian. Both shrugged, and then Aang spoke.

"I don't know." He said as he looked out into the water. Lian didn't look, but instead walked over to Appa where Aang's clothes had been strewn all over the beach, and gathered them up for him in her arms.

"Well let's not stick around to find out," Sokka spoke as he wiped his hands together, and moved towards Appa as Lian walked towards Aang, and handed him his clothes. "Let's hit the road."

Aang began to dress as the troop began to walk towards Appa to prepare for their departure, but just as soon as Lian began to move forwards, she stops, causing Aang- who had been pulling his shirt on and was blind at the moment- to slam into her back, and then fall to the ground.

Lian, on the other hand, remained unfazed, and held up a hand to Katara and Sokka, whom were also behind her, and helping Aang up .

"What are you doing?" Sokka snapped. Lian quickly shushed him, and pushed her hand over his mouth to silence him. Aang finally yanked his shirt over his head, and looked up at Lian with a childish stare.

Lian's expression darkened as she concentrated on what she thought she heard, and then calmly pointed towards a branch above her, and glowered at it.

"I know you're there." Lian snarled as her pointed hand turned into a fist, and a fire dagger appeared in a burst of flame.

Sokka pushed Lian's hand away, and glared.

"There is no one-" But before the water tribe boy could finish, a green clad warrior appeared from the trees, and took him down with one swift move. Aang was snatched away by his shirt, and Katara had her own hood pulled over her eyes, and then was dragged away. Momo was even caught inside of a burlap bag, leaving Lian by herself, fire at the ready, and her nerves livewire.

Suddenly, a green clad warrior dove out behind her, thinking that she could take down Lian by surprise, but Lian spun around, and with a well executed spinning kick, pushing the warrior back when the arc of fire nearly burned her, and then took a swipe at the warrior with a fire dagger- successfully burning the warrior's uniform across the chest.

The warrior's comrades must have realized that the warrior was outmatched, and four more leapt out of the trees.

The first to attack was one with short brown hair, and a look of determination on her face that Lian had not seen on the other.

She took several swipes at Lian with her fan and her feet, but Lian dodged each attack with ease, and then caught the girl's foot with one hand, and roughly pushed her back, just to grimace as the girl flipped over expertly, and planted her feet back on the ground as her fellow warriors stepped in.

Lian quickly swung herself around low to the ground, attempting to stun the warriors by throwing a large arc of fire at their ankles, which three of them jumped over, but the other failed to notice, and fell back when her ankle was burned.

Lian dove between the warriors when they tried to converge on her, and once she was behind on of the warriors with long black hair held up in chopsticks, she jabbed the girl in the back with a quick succession of hits, and then pulled her out of the way by her shoulder, causing her to tumble back away from the fight, limp and useless.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Lian shouted as the brown haired warrior lunged at Lian again, and Lian continued to dodge her attacks. The girl was fast- Lian gave her that, but she wasn't fast enough.

Lian flipped backwards away from the girl, and successfully kicked the girl's fan out of her hand, causing it to fly off into the trees, leaving the girl with only her hands to fight with.

Lian stood in her ready position, her fists held out to them prepared to hit them with fire if she needed to, and sure enough, the warriors sprinted towards her.

"But I will if I have to." Lian said to herself more than the girls a she moved towards them, and in a quick succession, she moved herself between the girls without a single one of them touching her, and then fired off several shots of fire that formed into arcs that were sharp as swords at them, which all of them where lucky enough to dodge.

But just as Lian was about to attack again, someone shouted from above her, and when she looked up, she was greeted with a heavy stream of water, and blinded long enough for the warriors to throw a sack over her head, and bind her hands.

"I knew they were spies." One of the warriors spoke as Lian was roughly pulled to her feet, and practically dragged since her feet were bound.

Lian grumbled under the sack, and in a last ditch effort to break free, she raised her internal body heat to the point where her skin was radiating heat, and the warriors holding her by her arms yelped loudly as their hands were burned by her skin through their gloves. Lian fell to the ground with a grunt, and then tried to undo her bindings before the warriors recovered.

But just a moment later, Lian was hit over the head with a fan, and her vision swimmed. She groaned, and continued to squirm effortlessly as the warriors watched her.

_Stay awake. _She told herself as she felt her eyes drooping. _Stay… awake. Stay… awake… _

Lian finally went out, and she was dragged away by the Warriors in green.

-0-

When Lian finally opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that she was no longer blind folded- but was even more surprised when she turned her head slightly, and noticed a window, and that the sun had gone down a long time ago. Her head ached, and her eyes felt heavy from sleep, although she didn't remember falling asleep.

She experimentally moved her hands, and then quickly brought them around in surprise. She wasn't blindfolded, nor kept in a cell, or bound. So what exactly was going on?

"Lian?" A drowsy voice asked from nearby behind Lian. She spun around on what she discovered to be a bed, not a slab of rock in a prison cell, and spotted none other than Sokka sitting up in a bed just like Lian's, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Lian looked around, and noticed Katara and Aang laying in two other beds, both sound asleep, Momo was even curled up over Aang's eyes. A small fire was in the middle of the room with stones surrounding it to keep it contained.

"Where are we? What happened?" Lian asked quickly as she reached up to rub her achy head, and pulled up the blanked that had been over her with the other.

Sokka yawned, and smacked his lips a few times before staring at Lian with droopy eyes, and then finally answering.

"We were captured by the Kyoshi Warriors. A bunch of _girls." _Sokka would have spat if he wasn't so tired from just waking up. "They brought us back here and tied us up against this statue of Avatar Kyoshi, and then accused us of being fire nation spies."

Lian sighed, and looked down at her feet, which were uncovered. She wondered where her shoes where for a moment before he mind came back to the accusation the warriors had thrown at Katara, Aang, and Sokka.

"And they wouldn't listen to you because I let them see me fire bend." Lian sighed as she placed her face in her hands, and rested her elbows on her knees. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. My first reaction was to fight back." She sounded so small at the moment, and it stunned Sokka, whose tired eyes widened significantly at the fire bender before him.

Sokka sat up in his own bed, and allowed his legs to hang over the side.

"Lian, they listened to us. Or, really, they listened to Mr. Avatar over there." Sokka explained as he pointed a thumb at Aang, who was now snoring rather loudly with a comical spit bubble inflating and deflating as he breathed.

Lian looked up, and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in shock.

"Really? How did you explain me?" She asked as she pushed back a strand of hair that had been hanging in her face. Sokka seemed to freeze for a moment, but then looked away from Lian, and cleared his throat.

"We, uh, we explained your situation. Aang vouched for you. Katara vouched for you… and um…" He muttered something that Lian couldn't understand, and she leaned forwards from her spot on her bed.

"And what?" She asked as she watched Sokka scratch the back of his head. From what she had come to learn over the past three days, based off of how he acted towards her, this wasn't like him. He was usually so cross with Lian it drove her insane.

"…Nothing. Basically, we're okay. But try to avoid any firebending around the villagers, alright?" Sokka asked of her as Lian looked back down at her hands with a frown.

She sighed, but nodded.

"No bending." She sighed as she lowered her hands, and then looked down at her legs. "Got it."

It was then that she realized that she was in a set of earth kingdom clothes, and snatched a piece of the green garment she was now wearing. She made a small sound of surprise as Sokka watched with a confused expression, and then looked up at Sokka with wide eyes.

"Who changed me?" Lian asked with alarm as she shook the loose earth kingdom clothing in her hand. Sokka just nodded towards the sleeping Katara, whose back was towards them, and Lian gave a sigh of relief, and began to inspect the Earth kingdom clothing again. It was soft, just like her royal fire nation clothes, but it was such a strange color to Lian that it threw her off terribly.

"Katara didn't want you sleeping in wet clothes." He motioned towards the fire pit, where Lian now realized her clothes were laid out in front of on top of the stones. "She didn't want you to get sick, and, you'll probably need a new set of clothes anyway."

Lian looked up with her eyebrow cocked, and frowned at Sokka.

"What's wrong with _my _clothes?" She asked as she released the loose fabric in her hands, and motioned towards her scarlet and gold garments. Sokka just rolled his eyes, and pointed at the clothes she was wearing now.

"Those will help you blend in, and those-"he pointed at the fire nation clothes drying next to the fire. "Will make you stick out like a sore thumb- more than you already do." Lian's expression of confusion was replaced with a glare at the subtle mention of her abnormal hair, and she reached up to pull up her hood- just to realize that the clothes she was wearing didn't have one. Lian patted her shoulders a bit awkwardly, and then placed them back in her lap with an irritated huff.

"What was that for?" Sokka asked before he even realized he wanted to. He sunk back a bit when Lian looked at him with a look of distaste. The Princess was obviously bothered that she didn't have her comforting hood like she did on every single one of her Fire Nation clothes, and crossed her arms.

"I've always had a hood on my clothes." She grumbled as she fiddled with the Earth Kingdom clothes- which she suddenly despised.

Sokka looked perplexed, and even though he knew it was probably not the best idea, he asked her another question anyway.

"Why?" Sokka turned his head slightly as Aang rolled over in his sleep, causing Momo to tumble off of his face, and fall onto the floor with a thud. Lian and Sokka didn't look towards the lemur, or acknowledge that he had fallen.

Lian just pointed up towards her hair, and then grabbed a piece of it with a grimace on her face. Sokka just watched as his expression softened a little, and the firebender's eyes seemed to glaze over at a memory.

"My father was ashamed of my hair. Whenever we went in public, or I was in his presence, I wasn't allowed to go without my hood." She answered quietly. So quietly, in fact, that Sokka had to lean over slightly to hear her.

"He went so far as to have the servants wash my hair with ink when we visited my grandfather once." She closed her eyes, and pursed her lips as she turned her face slightly away from Sokka, and dropped the long strand of hair in her hand as if it had burned her. "I remember because the first and last time they did, it burned, and I nearly ripped all of my hair out and burned the bath house down."

Sokka didn't say a word, but his expression said it all.

How could a father be so ashamed by his own daughter?

"I don't want to talk anymore, Sokka." She sighed as she turned away from him, and began to settle herself into the bed by pulling the blankets over her all the way up to her ears. Sokka assumed it was because she didn't have her hood to comfort her. He remained sitting up for a moment, and reached over to the bucket next to the fire, and just as he was about to pour it, the fire suddenly began to die, just as Lian closed her eyes, and buried her face into her pillow.

Sokka watched the fire slowly burn out in surprise, and then looked towards Lian, whose back was still turned to him.

"Thanks." Sokka said quietly as he put the bucket down, and then moved back onto his bed to lie down, and go to sleep himself.

"Don't mention it." Lian replied quietly as the room seemed to darken around them.

There were a few moments of silence between the two, and Katara and Aang's steady breathing, and snoring.

"I think your hair is …nice-looking." Sokka said quietly, but also stiffly. He didn't mean to sound fatuous, but it certainly sounded that way since Sokka wasn't used to speaking to Lian, let alone giving her a compliment in an attempt to make her feel a little less like she didn't belong.

"Yeah… right." Lian just said in reply as she pulled the blankets over her head, and desperately wished for a hood.

-0-

**I hope you guys liked it! Please leave a review and follow! **


	6. The Warriors of Kyoshi II

Chapter Seven

The Warriors of Kyoshi II

When Lian woke up the next morning- or what she believed to be morning- she laid there in her bed for a while, thinking over last night's conversation between herself, and Sokka, the water tribe boy who had yet to trust her.

He had spoken to her civilly, answered her questions, and had even tried to comfort her.

It was… bizarre. And a little bit unnerving.

Lian sighed, rubbed her tired eyes, and then threw the blanket off of herself before sitting up, and taking a look around the room.

To her surprise, it was empty, save for the bags and supplies that Katara had probably gathered, Sokka's things, and the beds.

Lian reached up and smoothed her hair as she cast the room a confused glance, and then stood, and then reached for her clothes sitting on the edge of the fire place. Her fire nation clothes were still there, but just as her fingers wrapped around the fabric, the door to the room opened, causing sunlight to stream in, and nearly blind the Princess.

"Oh, your awake!"

It was Katara with an armload of food and what appeared to be more clothes standing in the doorway with a knowing smile on her face. Lian just squinted at the water tribe girl, and nodded.

"Was I asleep for a while?" Lian asked as she shielded her eyes from the light. Katara noticed, and moved inside and shut the door behind her, leaving Lian to sigh in relief as she lowered her hand, and watched Katara move towards her. Katara just chuckled and nodded.

"It's late afternoon." She laughed slightly. Lian's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She had _never _woken up so late in her life!

"Aang and I thought that you never woke up from your fight yesterday until Sokka told us you woke up last night." Katara said as she set the basket of food on the floor, and then took a few steps towards Lian's bed, and laid out a set of clothes. Lian looked at them with curious eyes, and played off Katara's statement by not looking at the girl.

"He said you woke up, asked a few questions, and then went back to sleep without another word. But he did mention that you said you didn't like your clothes without a hood." Katara spoke as she motioned towards Lian's clothes that she was currently wearing, causing Lian to look down at them, and then back up at Katara, who was already fussing over the new outfit.

"I bought you some clothes of your own, and sewed on a hood for you. Those clothes need to go back to Suki today." Katara said as she held up Lian's new outfit, and to Lian's delight, a hood flopped over the t neckline, just like her fire nation clothes did. "I tried to make it like your old clothes. I thought it was a pretty good idea to make sure it was something you were familiar with."

Lian stood, and took the clothes gently from Katara's hands with a smile on her face.

"Thank you Katara." Lian smiled as she held up the new, light blue clothes that leaned closer to white, and quickly shed the horrid green clothes that she had been placed in, and pulled the shirt over her head. As soon as she had it on, she pulled up the hood, and just as her old hood did, she could pull up the excess fabric, and cover the bottom half of her face. Lian was impressed that Katara could recreated the hoods that her family's royal seamstresses had been making for over fifteen years.

"Like it?" Katara asked with a smile on her face as she took the green earth kingdom clothes in her hands.

Lian looked up at Katara with a smile, and pulled down her hood, causing her blonde hair to tumble out of it in waves down to her shoulder blades.

"I love it." Lian replied as she moved to put on the black pants that came with it, and then her black fire nation shoes as Katara moved to leave. Lian looked up at the sound of the door opening, and quickly caught Katara before she left.

"Oh! Katara!" Lian yelled as she hobbled out behind her with one shoe halfway on.

Katara turned around to face Lian with her eyebrows raised, but waited for Lian, who squinted when she ran outside. Katara had to squint because Lian's hair shined so bright.

"Did… uh… Sokka say anything else?" Lian asked as she stood before Katara, who raised an eyebrow at her question. Katara just shook her head as she began to walk towards the beach, and Lian followed.

"No, he didn't." Katara spoke. "He just said that you woke up last night and complained that you didn't have a hood."

Lian resisted the urge to give a sigh of relief, and Katara sent her a strange look.

"Was he supposed to tell me something else?" Katara questioned as the two girls walked through the village. Lian could feel the stares, but she deliberately ignored them. She had learned a long time ago that acknowledging them didn't do anything but make her more uncomfortable.

"No." Lian answered a bit too quickly. She cleared her throat loudly, and looked towards the sun. It seemed to greet her with a surge of warmth, and she sent it a small smirk. Katara raised an eyebrow, and then pointed a thumb towards a building slightly set apart from the others in the village.

"Well… he's in there if you want to talk to him." Katara spoke with an almost wary tone to her voice. It was extremely odd for Lian to talk about Sokka unless it was to make fun of him or snap at him, even if they had only known each other for a few days.

Lian looked towards the building, and then back at Katara with a smile.

"Thanks Katara. I'll see you later." Lian chirped as she walked away from the water bender, and waved before turning around, and walking towards the building with her fair hair bouncing behind her.

Katara blinked at the sight of Lian going to speak to Sokka on her own accord, and then shook her head slightly to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Nope. That was Princess Lian, walking towards where Sokka had last been seen- all by herself.

With one last strange look at Lian's back, she turned away from the scene, and goes to find Aang, just as Lian reaches the building, and pauses at the sound of Sokka, and another girl's voice inside.

"…if that's what you want, I'd be happy to." Sokka spoke as Lian leaned against the outside of the door just out everyone's view inside, and listened carefully. Sokka sounded over confident, and Lian smirked at the thought. "All right you stand over there."

There was a short time of what sounded like shuffling, and then Sokka spoke again as Lian crossed her arms in front of her chest, and leaned her head against the side of the building casually.

"This may be a little tough, by _try _to block me." Sokka almost sneered. Lian could hear the smirk in his voice, and waited patiently to hear what happened next.

She heard the sound of Sokka grunting, more than likely throwing a punch at someone, and then the sound of Sokka's alarmed, less than manly squeal, and his feet stomping against the floor as he stumbled back.

Lian decided that she was missing out on a good show, and finally uncrossed her arms, and pushed herself off the side of the building gently to move to stand in the doorway.

When she did, she expected looks from her presence- but everyone was too busy watching Sokka make a fool of himself to notice.

Lian watched with her amber eyes as Sokka rubbed his shoulder, and sent the girl with the short brown hair, and the painted face a small smile. It was the same girl that Lian recognized from her fight yesterday, and more than likely, the same one that had hit her over the head and dragged her back to the village.

"Of course." The warrior replied casually as Sokka readied himself for his next attack.

Lian can tell that Sokka is about to move again before he even makes a conscious decision to, and raises an eyebrow at his poor fighting skills as he shouted, and lunged at the girl again- who almost lazily snatched his leg, pulled it, and sent him falling to the floor.

Lian snorted when Sokka landed on his butt, and blinked in disbelief; which caused the other warriors to finally notice Lian, and visibly tense.

Lian saw them, sent them a direct stare, and then turned her eyes back to the scene where Sokka had just gotten his ass handed to him again, but this time, the warrior had tied his own belt to his ankle, and his wrist, causing him to lose his balance, and fall flat on his face.

"Anything else you want to teach us?" The girl said sweetly, causing the other girls to laugh. Sokka visibly flushed, and turned his head away from the girls- and finally saw Lian standing in the doorway.

His cheeks turned as red as Lian's fire nation clothes back in the hut.

"L-Lian!" He stuttered as he tried to free himself from his belt, and Lian smirked at him.

The warrior that had been toying with Sokka looked up at Lian, and practically glowered.

"Sokka." Lian said in reply with a smirk playing on her lips. She motioned towards him with a graceful hand, and she felt the warriors tense at her every movement. "I see you've gotten yourself a in a bit of a predicament." She chirped with a mocking chime to her voice.

Sokka shot her a deadpan expression, and finally wriggled his hand free of his belt, and accidently kicked the belt towards Lian.

Lian's hand darted up and caught the belt with years of highly honed skill, and the warrior that had attacked Lian raised an eyebrow in interest as Lian eyed the belt for a moment, and then held it out to the rising Sokka, who looked terribly defeated as he moved towards Lian with a look of distaste, and took the belt out of her hand.

"Thanks." He said with a huff as he moved to leave. But just as his foot crossed the threshold, the warrior he had been fighting- or trying to fight, stepped forwards, and motioned towards Lian.

"So, Lian, huh?" The girl said a little too friendly as Lian had begun to turn away, and leave with Sokka. Sokka paused as well, and his eyes darted between the two girls.

Lian didn't look at the girl at first, but glared at the ground before her, and only looked at her from the corner of her eyes.

The brown haired warrior had a smug look on her face that Lian wished that she could just punch off.

Lian finally looked at the girl, and sent her a less than friendly grin.

"Yes. Can I help you?" She practically spat. Forget being nice, this girl had pulled a low move by knocking Lian out, and she wasn't about to forget it. The warrior's smirk faded slightly, but then grew again as she held out a hand towards Lian, which she assumed was to shake.

"I'm Suki." She spoke as Lian eyed her hand. "Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors." Lian looked up at Suki, but didn't take her hand. Suki realized that Lian had absolutely no intention of shaking her hand, and lowered it with a frown.

"Nice to meet you, _Suki._" Lian suddenly spat, causing Sokka's head to snap in her direction, and a surprised expression to fill his eyes at the sight of such a calm Lian- even though anger radiated off of her in waves. Suki's eyes narrowed at Lian and Lian smirked at her reaction.

Lian placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder, causing him to jump at the sudden touch, and then turned to leave the building. Once Lian had exited, Sokka looked around the room filled with irritated Kyoshi warriors, sent them an uneasy smile, and then darted out behind Lian, who was already halfway across the lawn that lead back to the village. Suki walked over to the door after Sokka left, and watched with a hard expression on her face.

Sokka jogged to catch up with the fast-walking fire bender, and when he was finally within reach of her, he reached out to grab her shoulder.

Just before he could reach Lian's shoulder, Lian spun around, and snatched Sokka's wrist in her hand, and raised the other to attack instinctively.

Sokka stood there in shock for a moment as Lian glared at what seemed like his chest, and his eyes looked towards her hand, which was wrapped around his wrist in a vice grip. The sudden touch sent a shiver down her spine, and Sokka felt warmth rise in his cheeks.

_What the hell was that? _Lian thought as her amber eyes settled on Sokka's blue ones, and then trailed down his arm to where her hand was gripping his wrist.

Lian realized that she was defending herself against an ally, and her expression softened, and she released Sokka's hand. Her own hand hovered in the air underneath Sokka's own hand, which still remained near hers due to his shock, and Lian closed her eyes, and sighed as she reached up to place a hand on her forehead, and lowered the other one towards her side.

"Sorry… I just…" Lian paused, and then took her hand off of her forehead, and turned away from Sokka as she reached up to raise her hood. Sokka finally, but slowly lowered his hand, and watched with wide eyes as Lian began to move away from him with her shield up. Lian lowered her eyes towards the ground, and bit her lip. "…sorry."

Sokka blinked a few more times, and then finally moved after Lian, who was walking away from him yet again.

"Wait!" Sokka shouted as Suki's own smirk dropped.

She was expecting him to come back.

Lian slowed, but she didn't stop, and Sokka finally caught up with her as they approached the village as Suki turned her back to the sight of Lian and Sokka together, and returned to her fellow warriors.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked as he watched Lian's new hood bounce slightly as she walked. He remembered asking Katara if she could make Lian one, and even though she had been stunned that he had asked Katara to do something nice for Lian, she had, and she did a spectacular job at that.

Lian suddenly stopped, and Sokka skidded to a halt a few steps ahead of her. The fire bender looked away from Sokka, and towards the tree line, and then sighed.

There were a few moments of quiet where Sokka could tell Lian was internally debating with herself, and then she bit her lip, and looked up at the water tribe boy.

"I'm not sure." She finally answered quietly. Sokka realized she sounded a lot like she did last night, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern. Lian watched him carefully, and then looked away, and pulled her hood closer to her face, and began walking again, but this time, at a pace Sokka could keep as well.

"Those things I told you last night," She began as they walked towards the beach, away from the village's staring eyes. Sokka raised an eyebrow, and looked towards Lian as she continued to look straight forward, avoiding the watching eyes.

Sokka looked around, and realized that truly every pair of eyes were watching them walk through the village.

They all looked wary- some, even fearful at the sight of a fire bender, even if she meant no harm.

"You can't tell _anyone,_ Sokka. Not a soul." She whispered as they finally passed the wooden statue of Kyoshi, and continued towards the beach. Sokka raised an eyebrow at this, and continued to follow her.

Katara walked out of a shop in her search for Aang, and spotted the two just before they disappeared into the tree line, and raised an eyebrow at their backs. She considered following them, but then considered the fact that Sokka could be resolving his differences with Lian, and turned away from where the two had disappeared, and continued to search for Aang.

"Why not?" Sokka asked. He knew right away that that had been the wrong thing to say, and cleared his throat before Lian could say anything. "I-I mean, you told _me." _Lian frowned, but didn't speak as she led them through the trees, and finally, reached the beach once again.

It was only when Lian had looked over the beach, and reassured herself that it was just the two of them that she reached up, and lowered her hood. Sokka watched carefully, and patiently waited for an answer from Lian.

But she wasn't thinking of an answer for him; she was thinking of questions she had for him.

Why was he suddenly so concerned? Why was he suddenly speaking to her as if they had been friends when he constantly reminded her that she was born from evil? What was going on?

Lian stared at the waves for a few moments with the wind blowing lightly against her skin, through her hair, carrying the scent of sand and ocean into her nostrils.

Sokka watched the golden haired girl for a moment, and then followed her gaze towards the water, and waited.

The two stood in silence for a while, basking in the sunlight and enjoying the quiet that the beach brought to them.

But Lian knew that it wouldn't last forever. She had to say something. So she decided to get directly to the point.

"Sokka," She spoke quietly, causing Sokka to finally look towards her. Lian just continued to look towards the water, her eyes calm and tranquil looking, even though on the inside, she was terribly confused. "Why are you acting like this?" She questioned, causing Sokka's eyebrows to shoot up.

Because, honestly, Sokka didn't even know.

Sokka uncomfortably cleared his throat, and turned his blue eyes away from Lian, and looked over the beach.

"Uh…" He started uneasily, not even sure of what he was going to say yet. Lian glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, and saw him reach up, and scratch the back of his head. When Sokka looked her way, Lian's eyes darted back towards the ocean and Sokka's towards the beach.

"I …figure… if we're going to be around each other for as long as I _think _we are… we- we might as well try to get along." Sokka finally spewed as he scratched the back of his head, and avoided Lian's gaze.

Lian watched the waves for a while longer, and then turned to look at Sokka, and Sokka glanced at her before looking away with a pink tinge to his tan cheeks.

"I think we should start over." Lian proposed. She held out a slender hand, and smirked as Sokka eyed it for a moment with raised eyebrows and wide eyes, and then peered at Lian from under his brow.

"Hi." Lian chirped happily, causing Sokka to look directly at her, his head angled downwards slightly and his expression still blank. "I'm Lian. Nice to meet you."

Sokka's expression remained blank for a few moments longer, and Lian's hand hovered before him, waiting for him to shake it as he carefully watched her smile.

Sokka felt his own smile grow on his face, and he finally reached forward, and shook Lian's surprisingly small hand, and he swore that Lian's skin was as warm as a comforting campfire.

"I'm Sokka." He spoke as he shook Lian's hand, and watched her laugh lightly at his words. "It's nice to meet you too."

The two gave a chuckle, and finally released each other's hands, and turned their eyes back towards the ocean.

-0-

"I swear to you, if you squint really, _really _hard, and maybe turn your head to the left a little, that flower would look just like you." Lian just raised an eyebrow at the Water Tribe boy next to her, and then eyed the flower he was pointing at.

It was pink, for one, and two, it was wilting. How it had survived winter, Lian didn't know.

Lian eyed the flower for a few moments longer, and then turned her eyes towards Sokka, who was smirking in some sort of premature triumph.

"Uh…" Lian began as she eyed the flower again. Sokka opened one eye to look at Lian and his smirk lowered into a small frown. "I don't think so Sokka."

Both of Sokka's eyes opened, and he crossed his arms at the golden haired girl. She didn't seem amused as she waited for Sokka to present his argument, and Sokka huffed.

"And why not?" He almost whined. Lian raised her eyebrow at him, and then motioned to the clothing she was wearing. It was the earth kingdom outfit that Katara had made just for her. The shirt was such a light blue that it looked almost white, and a pair of black pants that an older woman in the village had openly voiced that she believed them to be 'too tight for a young lady', even though Katara had been very careful to copy the size of her new pants from her old ones, and her black fire nation shoes that came up just below her knee.

Sokka eyed her ensemble, and then looked back up at her amber eyes, which still didn't seem amused.

"I'm certainly not wearing _pink_, Sokka." Lian deadpanned as she continued to stare at Sokka. Sokka frowned, looked back at the flower, and then rolled his eyes.

"Not _that one,_ THAT one!" Sokka pointed at another one a foot away from it that was bright yellow, and seemed to have sprouted up recently. Lian eyed it for a moment, exchanged a look with Sokka, and then turned back to the flower.

Sokka watched as the firebender squinted her eyes, eyed the flower for a moment, and then turned her head to the left just slightly.

"Huh." She mused with a small smirk. Sokka smiled in victory next to her, and crossed his arms smugly.

"Maybe it does..." She pondered as Sokka laid back in the tall grass with his arms behind his head. Lian looked towards him with a sarcastic expression dripping off of her features. "_Maybe." _

Sokka scoffed, and waved a hand at Lian as he covered his eyes with an arm.

Over the past few days, the two had come to tolerate, and even enjoy each other's company- which thoroughly pleased Aang, but befuddled Katara, who would usually be seen staring at the two interacting with each other with shock, and had even dropped a basket full of supplies at the sight of Lian and Sokka making ridiculous faces at one another.

"Whatever." Sokka shrugged. Lian scoffed, and then turned look back towards the mountainside.

The two remained there in silence for a while, and then Sokka sat straight up. Lian gave him a sideways look at his sudden movement, and raised an eyebrow.

"I think I'm going to ask Suki to teach me." Sokka stated. Lian then looked directly at him, bewildered by his statement, and promptly punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Sokka whined as he stuck out his bottom lip, and rubbed his arm. Lian glared at him, and he swore he could feel heat radiating off of her.

"_Suki?"_ Lian spat. "You going to ask _Sucky Suki _ to teach you?" Sokka raised an eyebrow at the new name Lian had given Suki, and continued to rub his arm.

"Uh… yeah. I want to learn how to fight." Sokka reasoned. Lian raised her fist again, and Sokka raised his hands up in alarm, and covered his face and brought up his legs towards his chest.

"No! NO!" Sokka shouted, causing Lian to stop in mid punch, and glower at him. "I just want to be able to contribute, you know!?" He shouted again as Lian turned away from him, and crossed her arms.

Lian watched the mountainside for a few moments as Sokka took a peek at Lian from between his arms, blinked a few times, and then decided that is was safe enough for him to let his guard down.

Suddenly, Lian shot him an annoyed look from the corner of her eyes, and Sokka flinched. But just as he thought Lian was going to punch him again, her eyes widened, and an almost elated smile spread across her face.

"What if I taught you?" Lian asked excitedly. Sokka looked bewildered at Lian's sudden change of demeanor, but then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"What?" He deadpanned. Lian suddenly leapt to her feet, and twirled about in the tall grass.

"I'll teach you! We'll start right now!" Lian chirped. She then took a firebending stance, and before Sokka could say another word, she kicked out a leg, and a stream of fire shot off, and then dispersed.

Before Sokka could even utter a word to stop her from bending again- or even point out that he couldn't bend- she jumped into the air and spun gracefully with fire tracing the movement of her right hand, and landed on her feet, just to swing her right arm down, continuing the swirl of fire up in to a shield.

Sokka was amazed at how something he believed could be so destructive, could be so beautiful. The way Lian commanded the fire that spouted from her hands was so graceful compared to the firebending he had seen in his lifetime. It flowed instead of burst, and instead of the tremendous roar that he remembered, it crackled like a campfire- but still retained the power of ten firebenders put together.

Lian continued to fire bend as if she were dancing, and then stopped when she finally remembered that Sokka was watching- and that she wasn't supposed to be firebending at all.

The fire that had been in her extended hand suddenly went out in a puff of smoke, and she turned her amber eyes towards Sokka, whose mouth was slightly agape, and his blue eyes were wide as saucers.

"Uh…" She pursed her lips, and put her hands together tightly behind her back. She looked like a child who had been caught doing something they were not allowed to. "Sorry."

Sokka just stared with the same expression on his face for about a minute longer, and then shook his head out of his thoughts, and gave a forced cough.

"Uh… no! No. Its… alright." Sokka stumbled over his words as he reached up an pulled on the collar of his shirt as if he were slightly uncomfortable. Lian raised an eyebrow at him. "That… that was…. impressive."

Lian furrowed her brows, but her amber eyes glittered slightly. Confused, but flattered.

"Really?" Lian asked, her excitement and confusion mixing into a peculiar tone that made Sokka believe he had said the wrong thing. Sokka looked down and away from Lian, and then back up at her as he tried to think of what to say.

"Yeah! Its just-" Lian's small smile faded. "I can't bend, Lian. How am I supposed to learn how to fight from that?" He questioned as he motioned towards Lian. Lian reached up and scratched the back of her head, and gave the area around her a glance even though there was really nothing to look at.

"Well…" She thought for a moment. Sokka watched as Lian's eyes lit up suddenly, and she spun around to point at Sokka with a wide smile on her face. "You can just copy me! Use the movements of bending," She began to display the firebending techniques she had just used, but this time, no fire came flowing out of her hands. Sokka's eyebrows raised slightly at the sight- it seemed weird. "But without the bending." Lian finished, and then brought her hands together, and bowed.

Sokka gave a light chuckle, and then scratched the back of his head again as Lian peeked up at him from underneath her brow, and smirked.

"Okay, lemme try." Sokka spoke a little smugly as he moved towards the clearing Lian was standing in, and taking a poor horse stance as he prepared to mimic Lian's movements.

Lian grimaced slightly at his poor stance, and moved to help him, but Sokka had already began to punch the air sloppily, his fists loose and poor, his stance unbalanced, causing his body to waver back and forth at his movements- he was also making noises that imitated firebending 'booms' as he punched, and then moved to bring his leg up to kick- but his overzealous kick sent him toppling back onto his back.

Lian's hands flew up to cover her mouth to stifle a snort at the sight of Sokka falling back onto his back, and then moved to help him with a bit lip as Sokka groaned in pain at the sudden feeling of having the air blow out of him from his sudden tumble.

Lian's golden head of hair appeared above him with a smirk on her lips, and she held out a hand to Sokka to help him get back onto his feet.

"_Maybe_ I should just stick to none- bender fighting styles." Sokka groaned as he reached back and rubbed the new bruise on his backside. Lian's smirk was suddenly wiped off of her face, and replaced with a frown.

"No! We could just start with some more basic moves! Like… like this one!" Lian moved a few steps back, took a short lived horse stance, and then threw a single punch then turned to smile at Sokka with her fist still extended.

Sokka frowned deeply when he realized that that was all Lian was talking about.

"That's it?" Sokka deadpanned with sour expression on his face. Lian's smile turned weak, and she gave a pitiful chuckle.

"You gotta start small, Sokka." Lian spoke with wisdom as she moved out of her stance, and shrugged at him. Sokka just continued to frown. "Just like the Avatar has to learn one element at a time."

Sokka huffed, and Lian gave a tiny grin in reassurance.

"Thank you oh, _pinnacle of wisdom_. But I think I'll go beg Suki to teach me a few tricks." Sokka droned as he turned away from Lian to walk back to the village, and essentially, the warrior, Suki.

Lian's expression shattered on the ground and left her with a look of hurt at Sokka's low blow, and then, that expression hardened into a look of anger.

"_Pinnacle_? That's a _very_ big word for someone with such little intelligence!" Lian shouted after him. Sokka gave an angry wave over his shoulder, but it certainly wasn't one to wish her goodbye, it was a signal to her that the insult made him angry, but didn't affect him too much.

Soon enough, Sokka was out of her line of sight, and Lian was left to her own devices in the field of flowers.

Lian huffed, and frowned at the path Sokka had taken to go and 'beg' Suki to teach him 'a few moves'.

"Ridiculous." Lian spat under her breath as she turned away from the path Sokka had just taken, and moved to sit so that she could meditate.

Once she was sitting in her lotus position, she looked around her for a source of kindling she could use to focus her firebending on, and frowned when she found nothing but a field of flowers.

She turned her head back forwards, and then looked down at a single red flower that rested before her, and furrowed her brows.

Lian raised a hand, and extended a single finger where on her command, a small jet of fire emerged, and remained under her control.

"Sorry, buddy." Lian spoke to the flower as she lowered her finger towards it. "You'll grow back big and strong- I promise."

The flame at the tip of her finger finally reached the flower, and it caught aflame, and began to burn as Lian pulled her hand back, and placed it back on her knee.

The Princess with the golden hair took in a deep breath, and the fire grew on the fire- and then stopped when Lian felt the flames reach the ends of the petals, and remained there, steadily burning, but never growing.

Lian then sighed, closed her eyes, and focused on the tiny heartbeat that the fire held, and tuned the world out.

-0-

The fire that had been burning on the flower for nearly an hour- suddenly went out in smoke, and the amber eyes of the firebender who had been commanding the flame under her gentle hand flew open.

Something wasn't right. The field suddenly felt too quiet, like all of the life had been scared away.

Something wasn't right.

Lian stood quickly, and took a look around the field- and then her eyes land on the sight that does not belong.

A long, dark, column of black smoke can be seen billowing above the bay, smoke that could only be from a Fire Navy ship.

Zuko's Fire Navy ship.

"Oh no…" Lian uttered to herself as her eyes trailed down the smoke, and landed on the bay. "The village."

Before her mind could even register her movements, Lian began to sprint towards the village, her hands pulling up her hood over her hair and buttoning the spar fabric over her mouth as she ran. If she would have to fight, she was going to keep Zuko from knowing that it was her- even if her hood was her signature- and fight without her bending- something she heavily relied on.

The wind from the speed she was running at stung her eyes, but she continued to run towards the village- just to run straight into a fire fight between a firebender and the Kyoshi warriors, who seem to have just been taken out when Lian ran onto the scene.

Lian spotted the burst of fire just in time, and yelped as she fell to her knees, and continued to skid forwards on her shins. The fire flew just over her face- the heat radiated off of itShe spotted the firebender responsible for the burst of flame, and nearly gasped as she continued to skid forwards towards him- her brother- Zuko.

Lian couldn't stop herself in time to avoid sliding into Zuko's own shins, causing him to topple over onto the ground, while Lian rolled away from him, and landed on her stomach, with her hands over her head, shielding her face from attack and the debris she had rolled over and over, and finally slammed into the side of one of the partially destroyed buildings from the battle that had been going on since before she arrived. She groaned, but didn't move for a moment.

Lian gave a huff of relief when she realized that none of the debris that she had rolled over from the destroyed buildings hadn't harmed her, but then remembered her brother- and his dangerous temper, and her head shot up- her mouth and nose still covered.

She spotted her brother scowling at Lian's disguised form as he jumped up to his feet, his fists already aflame. Lian gave a squeal of surprise, and began to scramble to her feet as her own brother began to raise his hands in anger at the hooded girl, a growl rolling out of his throat as the fire in his hands grew.

_Oh spirits, why did it have to be Zuko?_ Lian groaned internally as she finally made her way to her knees- just in time for a voice to shout.

"Hey! Over here!" It was Aang. He was standing there with his trusty glider, and a determined look on his face.

Zuko's eyes widened, and he spun around to face the Avatar- giving Lian a chance to run. She knew that Aang could handle himself- she'd seen him in action up close.

Zuko doesn't waste more than three seconds before he begins to fire off bursts of fire at Aang, just as Lian runs behind another hut in the village, and _literally _runs straight into a Kyoshi warrior, and both of them tumble to the ground with a girlish- and almost boyish shout.

"Watch where you're running!" The warrior shouts- but the voice doesn't fit the appearance, and Lian's now wide eyes dart to the owner of the voice's face, and almost jump out of their sockets in shock.

The Princess isn't sure if she wants to laugh or stare in shock.

"_Sokka?" _Lian shouts over the booms from her brother's firebending, and the gusts of Aang's airbending. Sokka visibly blushes underneath the face makeup he's wearing, and opens his mouth to explain- but before he can say a word, someone comes flying into the hut next to them, and the building collapses as the person comes flying out the other side, and slams into a tree.

Lian nearly gasps out loud when she spots her brother's scarred eye, and that they're opening.

The Princess jumped to her feet, and moved towards her brother as quickly as she possibly could, and began to reach out to him.

"Zuko!" She gasped- she feared that he had been injured, and reached up to unhook the button keeping the extra fabric of her hood off of her face. Sokka yelped, and snatched Lian's arm a little too roughly just as Zuko's eyes began to open.

To the Prince, the sight before him was slightly blurry, and he had to blink a few times at Sokka pulled Lian away from her brother, shouting and screaming at the water tribe boy as she went.

"No! I have to make sure he's okay!" She shouted. "_Let me go!" _

Just a little too late, Zuko relized that his own missing sister was screaming, and his own eyes flew open, everything suddenly clear- just as Lian and Sokka disappeared.

"Lian?" He spoke. "LIAN?!" Zuko tried to get up, and chase after her sister and her so called 'captor', but fell when his vision began to spin, and squeezed his eyes shut, and punched the earth beneath him.

Lian could hear her brother's last shout as she ran at Sokka's command back to Appa. Katara and Aang were already waiting for them, and she got the feeling they didn't have time for a family reunion.

"I hope he's okay…" Lian muttered to herself as she ran behind Sokka, who suddenly skidded to the stop. They had run straight into a fight between the Suki and three firebenders. She was handling them well- but one of them had noticed Lian and Sokka, and aimed his fist towards the two as Lian's hand darted up, and hooked the fabric back over her face.

Sokka didn't know how to fight firebenders yet. She would have to.

Before she even knew it, the fire came flying towards them- and before Sokka could move a muscle, Lian pushed him aside roughly, causing him to tumble towards the ground, and dispersed the fire with her own bending, and then shot her own burst of flame at him with a loud, aggressive grunt. The fire hit the man square in the chest, and sent him flying back several feet. He landed on the ground motionless, and Lian turned to face the other two just in time to spot Suki throw her fan at one violently. The fan hit the soldier in the face mask, and knocked him out, sending him toppling over onto the ground.

Just as that one falls, Lian spots more moving their way, and quickly spins on her heel, and snatches Suki and Sokka's arms in her hands. Suki doesn't protest, but Sokka gives a yelp as Lian pulls them behind a nearby house just in time to avoid the firebending warriors. Lian carefully peeks out from behind the house as Suki moves towards Sokka, and the golden haired princess watches carefully as they scan the area for Aang, herself, or the two water tribe siblings, and then move on.

"There's no time to say goodbye."

Lian's eyebrow cocks at the sound of Suki's voice, and she quickly turns to see Suki and Sokka speaking to each other.

And for some reason- a fire explodes in her chest. They're too close together, Suki sounds too gentle, Sokka's expression was too soft. Her amber eyes filled with anger that not a soul had ever seen before in the entire time of Lian's existence- not even Lian.

The feeling was even foreign to Lian.

"How about an "_I'm sorry"_?" Sokka said softly. Lian watched the scene with wide eyes, neither of the two green clad teenagers noticing her watching on with shock.

"For what?" Suki questioned, her expression almost one of longing. Lian grit her teeth, and her hands turned to fists.

"I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior." Sokka said with a hint of regret to his voice. Lian felt the little red ogre named Rage crawl deeper and deeper into her ribcage- and take her heart in a vice grip. But instead of rage spreading through her- it felt more like heartache.

_What am I thinking?_ Lian questioned herself as she watched as Suki got closer to Sokka.

"I am a warrior." Suki got closer- and Lian turned around, knowing what was coming next.

Without even checking to see if it was safe for her to run- she bolted out from behind the house, leaving Sokka and Suki, and ran to Appa, where Katara and Aang were waiting for them with the all of the supplies the managed to collect in their flight.

Katara had reached out to help Lian climb onto Appa, but instead of taking the girl's hand, Lian used her firebending to push herself off of the ground, and landed on Appa's saddle with a quiet _thud_.

"Did Zuko see you?" Katara asked as Sokka came running up Appa's tail, a confused look on his face that intensified when he spotted Lian sitting on Appa's saddle with her hood still covering her face.

Lian just nodded, and Katara's eyes grew wide.

"I don't think he realized it was me though." Lian muttered so quietly that Katara could barely hear.

"Appa, yip, yip!" Aang shouted as Zuko himself began to sprint out of the tree line, his eyes focused on the bison. Lian quickly turned her eyes away from him, and squeezed them shut.

_What is wrong with me today?_

Lian can hear her brother's shouts as she swallows a sob that threatens to erupt from her throat. First she leaves her brother, hurt and alone, and then she watched as Sokka nearly pours his heart out to Suki.

Great day all around.

"What are you doing?!" Katara suddenly shouts, causing Lian to jump, and turn around on a bronze coin, just in time to see Aang jump off of Appa's saddle.

"Aang!" Lian shouted as she lunged over to the side of the saddle Katara and Sokka were now leaning over, just in time to spot Aang dive into the water.

"What is he _doing_?!" Lian shouted with a tone of alarm in her voice. Katara looked like she was about to rip her hair out, and Sokka- with his ridiculous Kyoshi warrior makeup on- looked like an alarmed clown.

"I don't-" But before Katara could finish, their question was answered.

Aang came flying out of the water- _on top of the Unagi_- with its whiskers in his hands.

"Oh my _spirits_." Lian whispered from her place between Sokka and Katara, her amber eyes wide with shock and awe as she watched Aang pull back on the Unagi's whiskers, commanding it to spew water at the village that had been burning slowly from Zuko and his firebender's flames. The water from the Unagi put out the fires, and once Aang saw that the village was now safe, he released the Unagi's whiskers, and flew off of its head when it reared its head back, and slithered back into the water.

Appa dove quickly, causing Lian's hood to fly off of her head, and Sokka and Katara to shout- but he caught Aang just in time, and the three resumed their safe flight.

After a few moments, Aang crawled onto Appa's saddle, where Lian, Katara, and Sokka waited for him, anxious to see if he was okay, and he gave them a small smile.

"I know, I know. That was stupid and dangerous." Aang said with a playful roll of his eyes. Lian smirked.

_Guess who's going to get a lecture from Katara now? Not me! _

"Yes, it was." Katara answered with a smile. Lian smirked, and sat back, waiting for the lecture to come- but instead of Katara raising a finger and shaking it like Lian's nanny used to- the water tribe girl dove at Aang, and hugged him tightly.

"What?!" Lian shouted, causing the two to jump apart, and Sokka to look at Lian like she had just sprouted another head. Katara and Aang both raised an eyebrow at her.

"I get a lecture when I spill my water on Appa's saddle but _Aang_ doesn't get a lecture for riding the Unagi?!"


	7. The King of Omashu

Chapter Seven

The King of Omashu

The ride on Appa after the events on Kyoshi Island was relatively quiet- and maybe a little tense.

Sokka and Lian had reverted back to their old habits of either completely ignoring one another- or bickering and insulting one another until either Aang or Katara broke them up- which usually resulted in Lian fire bending out of anger (which had already singed some of both Katara and Sokka's hair) or Sokka threatening with his boomerang gripped in his hand and pointed directly at Lian- who usually just provoked him by imitating him or just ignoring him altogether.

Today, just minutes before they were supposed to reach the city of Omashu, the two were already at each other's throats after Sokka had snapped at Lian for fire bending again.

"Oh just _shut up!"_ Lian groaned as Sokka continued to rant about the many things that could go wrong if Lian happened to catch the saddle on fire. Most of them ended with a fiery plummet towards the ground below- but a few of them had some more creative endings, like the one where Aang would air bend the fire out but accidently blow them all off resulting in them all falling to their deaths. Lian had been quick to remind him that she could fire bend to slow her descent, and the flurry of scenarios turned into an avalanche of snippy and anger fueled insults.

"No! Not until you stop fire bending on Appa!" Sokka shouted back, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke. Lian narrowed his eyes at him as Katara rubbed her temples from her spot nearby, and Aang sighed loudly.

Lian suddenly gave a less than convincing sniffle, and then reached up to rub her nose.

"I think… I think I feel a sneeze coming on…" She said between short breaths. Sokka and Katara raised an eyebrow at Lian at her dry tone, and Aang turned slightly from his spot on Appa's head. Lian's head was held back slightly, and her expression was twisted with the discomforting tingle of the sneeze. "Ah- ahhhh- " Lian paused, and suddenly smirked at Sokka- whose expression turned sour. "_ACHOO!"_

A burst of flame came from her sneeze, and lashed out towards Sokka, who gave a girlish scream in surprise, and flattened himself against Appa's saddle face first as the flames from Lian's fake sneeze flew well over his head, and into the sky above them. From a distance, the flames were big enough to be seen from the ground.

Katara and Aang looked stunned for a moment, and then exchanged a look with one another as Lian gave a halfhearted wipe to her nose, and looked down at Sokka with a smug look on her face as he pulled his face off of the leather saddle with a discomforting peeling noise, and turned to glower at Lian, who was halfheartedly wiping her nose with the back of her hand and making feeble sounding sniffling noises.

"Oh I'm _so sorry, _Sokka. I had _no _idea that would happen!" She cooed with a sickly sweet voice that grated against Sokka's ears as Katara slowly reached over, and bended a small amount of water over small flame that had caught on the very tip of Sokka's hair.

Sokka growled, and without warning, he gave a guttural cry of frustration that even made Lian jump- and reached up and pulled at his face. Obviously, he had had enough.

"I AM DONE!" Sokka yelled as Aang peeked over the edge of the saddle. Momo peeked over Aang's bald head a moment later, his large ears pressed back against his head. Lian and Katara just sat there with their blue and amber eyes wide. Sokka pointed a finger at Lian so close that it actually brushed against her nose, causing the fire bending girl to lean back with surprise, her hands gripping the edge of Appa's saddle with shock.

"I am done with your _stupid _fire bending, your _stupid _hood, your _stupid _face, your _stupid, __**freaky**_ hair…" Sokka's arms flailed about as he screamed at Lian, spit flying every which way and that, his eyes wide and livid and his muscles tense. But what he said next- could have possibly been the worst thing he could have possibly said. "Your Dad had _every_ reason to be ashamed of you!"

Those ten words hit Lian like a slab of earth hurdling through the air a mile a minute- and everyone on board felt their own breath hitch- Even Sokka, whose expression softened as soon as he realized what he had just said, and how deeply it had cut Lian. The usually strong fire bender suddenly looked as though the world had been pulled out from underneath her, and as close as Sokka was to her, he could see tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill over the edge.

Lian grit her teeth, and took a sharp, shaky breath, and looked away from Sokka for a moment.

Sokka quickly looked towards his sister, who was still watching the scene with a stunned and confused expression. What Sokka had said definitely was definitely not meant for their ears- and not even Lian's.

Sokka looked back towards Lian, who was now glowering at him with such a look of hatred that he felt a pang of fear in his chest- and gulped loudly. Tears were still filling the bender's eyes, but it was as if she willed them not to fall even in their precarious position on her eyes.

Sokka gave Lian a sympathetic look, and then began to reach towards her as he bit his lip, and then let it go so that he could speak.

"Lian-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Lian swatted his hand away. But to his surprise- Lian's hand _burned _his skin, and he yelped in pain as he withdrew his hand, and finally realized that it was suddenly very warm around Lian. Sokka caressed his hand as he looked towards Lian, and finally noticed a single tear fall from her eyes, and then turn into a small puff of almost unnoticeable steam. She had warmed her skin up so much that her tears didn't even get a chance to fall.

Sokka moved towards her again- and with one swift movement, Lian brought up her foot, and brutally kicked him in the chest, sending him towards the edge of Appa's saddle where he barely kept himself from toppling over the edge.

No one protested Lian's actions, not even Sokka, who was taking the brunt of them. No one spoke a word as Lian pulled up her hood and desperately pulled it over her face, and turned away from them all, silent tears still evaporating off of her skin as she cried.

Sokka felt guilt rise in his chest- just like the bird nest had settled in Lian's only a few days ago, and looked away from the girl's silently crying form, and looked over the edge of Appa as Katara finally mustered up the will to glare at her brother.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sokka shot his sister a look, and Katara stopped, her pointed finger poised mid-air, prepared to deliver a lecture, and her expression of fury fell.

He looked _sorry._ Sokka had never looked sorry in his life. Not even when he had destroyed their father's best boomerang or cut off half of Katara's hair.

Something had changed.

-0-

By the time the four had reached the outskirts of Omashu, the air around them was still tense, and Lian and Sokka still wouldn't look at one another, but the young Avatar Aang was still as chipper as ever, as if the confrontation between Lian and Sokka had never even happened. It grated against Sokka's already on edge nerves, but Lian tried her best to put on a happy face for the boy. She knew it wouldn't be fair to Aang if she took her feelings out on him.

Because Sokka deserved the sharp end of that spear- not Aang.

Appa landed and without a word, everyone climbed and bended their way off of Appa's back, and the ten ton sky bison grunted with approval.

Lian made her way around Appa with her hood still pulled up over her head, a shadow cast over her puffy eyes.

Sokka cast the girl a secretive look as he followed Katara and Aang, who were already walking ahead, and Katara cast a warning glare at the back of her brother's head when she noticed his movement in her peripherals. But the look that she saw on Sokka's face was only what she could identify as regret, but none the less- she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him, and turned away.

Sokka continued to watch as Lian walked past Appa's head, and the furry beast nudged her hand as she passed by- causing his mouth to drop open as Lian jumped in shock, and held her hands close to her chest away from Appa's mouth and nose.

He couldn't believe it. Even Appa was trying to cheer Lian up- and he wasn't too fond of her due to her fire bending. Appa hated fire.

Lian blinked a few times at the sky bison, and then lowered her hands, and relaxed her tensed muscles. Sokka gave a quiet chuckle as Katara and Aang finally reached the edge of the cliff, and Lian turned herself to face Appa.

"Can I help you, Appa?" Lian asked quietly as she raised a tentative hand, and ever so slowly, began to reach towards Appa's snout.

To both her and Sokka's surprise, Appa promptly placed his nose under her hand, and affectionately moved his head back and forth so that Lian's hand was petting his nose. Lian's amber eyes flew wide open, and Sokka gaped.

Lian blinked several times as she watched the sky bison rubbed his nose underneath Lian's hand, and then stopped to look up at Lian, curious as to why she wasn't moving her hand, or even reacting.

For a few moments, Lian just continued to stare at Appa, but then, a small smile began to grow on her lips, and soon enough, she beamed at the beast, and pet his nose with both hands.

"Thanks Appa." She whispered to him as she pet his nose lovingly, and then gave him a kiss right between his two giant eyes. Appa grunted in approval as Lian gave him one last pat on the nose, and then turned away from him to follow Aang and Katara- just to spot Sokka watching, and come to an abrupt halt, with her eyes locked on him in shock.

Sokka tensed like a frightened animal, and then looked away from Lian nervously. Lian only continued to stare for a moment, her expression one of subtle hurt and confusion, before looking away, and continuing her walk towards Aang and Katara. She passed right by Sokka with her ochre eyes trained straight forward, practically blotting out any acknowledgement of Sokka's existence.

As Lian passed by him, and finally joined Aang and Katara, he watched the back of her hood bob up and down with every movement, and sighed silently.

Then he wondered if anything could feel worse than this.

-0-

"I am _not _going down that thing." Lian shouted after Aang finished his _insane _proposal.

Aang's lower lip shot out right away, and his eyes looked like one of baby turtle duck. Lian had to look away, her lips drawn into a fine line and eyebrows furrowed to avoid his pleading gaze.

"Aw, come on, Lian! It'll be fun! I promise!" Aang begged as he moved around Lian so that he could see her face. Every time he got close, Lian swiftly turned her head. She knew that if he succeeded, she would succumb to the madness.

"Aang, I am not going to spend the last few moments of my life screaming _bloody _murder and flying off of a giant slide!" She shot back at him as she ducked away from his gaze once more.

Lian tried to dodge Aang's gaze once again- but this time, Aang got the best of her, and in the last second, he turned the opposite direction so that when Lian turned, she ran directly into Aang, whose puppy dog eyes were stronger than ever.

Lian yelped with surprise, and brought her arms up close to her chest as Aang began to pout even more, his eyes glistening with fake tears and his bottom lip quivering.

Lian looked back and forth between the slide, and Aang, and then finally locked her gaze on Aang- then sighed in defeat.

"Fine." She sighed as she looked towards her left, and then abruptly towards her right when she realized that she was staring directly at Sokka's feet. Aang cheered loudly as he snatched Lian and Katara's hands, and shouted for Sokka to follow them. Sokka frowned at this, but didn't say a word. He was too nervous about the slide to think about how Lian was ignoring his existence.

"One ride and then we're off to the north pole. Air bender's promise!" Aang chirped as they approached the slide and the stone bin that they would be riding in.

When Lian gathered the courage to peek over the edge, she nearly yelped with fright, and stumbled backwards into Katara, where she promptly snatched the water bender's sleeve in her hands, and clung onto the girl next to her as her teeth chattered and her amber eyes grew wider at the thought of sliding down that steep drop.

Katara began to move towards the bin, and Lian hesitantly followed with her grip on Katara's sleeve still tight, and made her way into the bin with her. Aang was in the front, Katara was behind him, and Lian and Sokka were squeezed into the back, where Lian was too busy being scared out of her wits at the height to even realize that she was no longer clinging to Katara's sleeve, but instead she had a vice grip on Sokka's arm. Sokka winced as her fingernails dug into his flesh- but he didn't want to say anything.

Aang began to bend air behind them

"This sounded like fun at first, but now that I'm up here-" Too late. The bin began to slide forwards, and as soon as it hit the perfect angle, it went flying down the mail chute, and Katara screamed the last few words. "I'm starting to have _second thoughts_!" Her words escalated into a scream just as Lian began to screech, one hand holding up her hood, and the other now gripping Sokka's bicep with her arm snaked around his arm.

Sokka was too busy screaming like a girl to notice just how tightly Lian was holding onto him. Pulled her hood over her eyes, and screamed over the chaos as Katara and Sokka began to shout something along the lines of: "SPEARS! SPEARS!"

"_I don't want to die!" _Lian screamed as she maneuvered her way under Sokka's arm, who promptly gripped the Princess in fear and continued to scream as Lian shoved her face in Sokka's chest, and wrapped her arms around him so tight that she probably left bruises.

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" Aang shouted over his passenger's screams.

Lian felt Aang moving the bin back and forth, and if it was even possible, she squeezed Sokka even harder, and he squeezed back.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She screamed over and over as the bin shook- and then finally flew off of the track, and freefalled, causing the passengers to sense the weightlessness- and the Fire Nation Princess to give another screech as she and Sokka gripped each other in fear, and Katara screamed with Aang's foot pressed on her face. "NOOOOOO!"

Just as Lian thought she was experiencing her final moments of life, Aang air bended the bin higher into the air to avoid crashing into the ground, causing everyone to scream once more.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die…." Lian repeated to herself over and over as she clung to Sokka for dear life, and Sokka continued to scream bloody murder into her ear.

"Aang! Do something! Use your airbending!" Katara shouted over the whistling winds and the screams of her friends. Aang's expression brightened, and he stood up with his staff.

"Yeah! Good idea! That'll make us go even faster!" Aang shouted all too cheerily as his friends continued to panic and scream.

Lian's eyes flew open at the word _faster _and she gasped loudly as Aang raised up his staff, and moved to blow a gust of air behind them.

"No! Not faster!" She screamed- but it was too late. Aang blew a gale of wind behind them, and the bin began to move so fast that tears began to prick Lian's eyes from the winds.

Sokka squeezed Lian tighter as they approached an earth bender raising up bins and moving bins off onto and off of the track they were on, and burrowed her face into her chest- she couldn't stand to watch.

But then, the bin suddenly hit the edge of the track, and the four were thrown from it- now flying through the air without anything underneath them.

Lian was pulled from Sokka when she was thrown from the bin, and screamed bloody murder the entire three seconds they were in the air- and continued to even after they were blown back into the bin and she was clamped back onto Sokka.

A few crash, bangs, and booms later-their ride had final ended, and Lian willed herself to open her eyes after slamming into what she believed to be the ground, and groaning in pain from being jostled around so roughly.

But when she saw what she was lying on top of, her breath hitched, and her ochre eyes widened in shock.

Sokka was lying on the ground underneath her- with the same expression of shock on his face as the girl began to scramble off of him, and backed straight into the knees of an Earth Kingdom guard.

Lian's eyebrows shot up at the contact, and she slowly looked up, just to meet her gaze with the soldier- who was glowering down at her. Before she could move, he reached down, and roughly grabbed her shoulder, and pulled her up without mercy, causing Lian to yelp in pain as her shoulder popped unpleasantly.

Sokka suddenly jumped up, and began to storm towards Lian and the guard as his sister and Aang were also taken into custody.

"You're hurting her!" He shouted as another guard snatched him from behind, and secured his hands behind his back with a pair of stone cuffs. Sokka struggled against the restraints as Lian turned her head slightly to glare at the man who had already earth bended a pair of handcuffs around her small wrists, and began to push her forwards roughly.

At one point, he pushed her too hard, and Lian stumbled forwards, and without her hands to break her fall, she slammed into the stone sidewalk face first with a cry- which was suddenly cut off when her face hit the stone. Lian felt dazed, and the pain in her head was unbearable.

"Leave her alone!" A voice shouted. It was difficult to think.

_No, no, no, you can't pass out again, Lian… don't do it. Don't do it… don't. _

"Leave…. Get away…" The voice faded away as Lian succumbed to her throbbing head's will, and her world went pitch black for the second time in three days.

-0—

**YOU GUYS. I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE LAST SUNDAY. **

**My computer shit itself for the last time last week sometime and I lost EVERYTHING, so I had to start this chapter all over again (and I already had about 3,000+ words on the old document ;-;).**

**Please, please, please, read and review- and I'm so sorry for the poor quality of this chapter. I tried my best to remember what I wrote before and begged my old computer to work- but I failed miserably at both. **

**Thank you for reading! **


	8. The King of Omashu Part II

Chapter Eight

The King of Omashu Part II

"_I'm so sorry, Sokka. I'm so sorry!" Lian sobbed as she embraced the water tribe boy dressed in scarlet, her arms entwining themselves around his neck and shoulders so that she could hold him with all of her might- but she found herself to be so weak, so tired. Sokka twirled her about as he held onto her, and muttered her name and sweet nothings about how much he worried about her as she apologized over and over, tears spilling from her eyes. _

_Sokka's face was buried into her neck, and the hair that had escaped her haphazard top-knot. His arms were wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly as if she had been gone for a long time, and for some reason, Lian felt as though she had been absent. She had struggled through _something, _but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Like water slipping through her fingers. _

"_Lian…" Sokka muttered into her hair. Lian tried to pull him closer, but instead, her arms went straight through him, and Sokka's form disappeared in a puff of smoke. The scene around Lian faded away, leaving the weakened firebender alone in darkness, her limbs beginning to fail her. _

"_Lian." A voice spoke, but it was one that was not familiar to her. It was deep, almost bellowing, but also calming and warm. "You must awaken." It whispered. Lian strained to hear it as her eyes began to droop. _

"_Who... who are you?" Lian whispered as she began to sink to her knees, her eyes barely open. Just as they began to close, a bright light began to appear, and the voice grew closer, stronger. _

"_No one you need to remember yet, child." The voice boomed as the light grew brighter from other side of Lian's eyelids. A warm hand touched her shoulder, and another placed itself over her forehead, like a mother would when she was concerned for her child."But for now, you must awaken." _

"_You must __**awaken.**_"

-0-

Lian awoke with a start as she sat straight up in her bed, the blankets that had been covering her figure thrown off of her as she sat up, and her hair sticking up in every which direction. Her amber eyes scanned the room before her that seemed to be permanently tinted green, and the walls that didn't seem to have a door anywhere in sight.

She twisted around on her bed, and inhaled sharply at the sight of three more beds, each one holding one of her sleeping friends.

Aang was sound asleep with his face flat on the pillow, and one arm and leg hanging off of the bed. Katara was curled up in the fetal position, and in the bed next to her, Sokka was turning over in his sleep so that he was now facing Lian, his mouth hanging open and a small snore slipping from his throat.

Lian's lips pursed slightly at the sight of Sokka, and her eyes turned from alarmed, to gently perplexed as she gazed upon the water tribe boy, and then suddenly turned her gaze away from him, and face the wall as she brought her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them protectively.

Her head gave a quite the throb, and she winced as she lowered her head onto her knees, and reached up with one hand to rub the place that ached.

There was a decently sized lump on the side of her head where she had hit the stone sidewalk.

"I really hope this doesn't become a habit…" Lian muttered to herself so quietly that it was barely a whisper.

Sokka gave a groan from the bed next to her, and Lian's head quickly jerked towards the sound, and her eyes became wide and her mouth twisted slightly with alarm, her teeth exposed and gritted together.

Sokka's eyes began to twitch, and she made a small squeaking noise before scrambling as quietly as she could to make her way underneath her covers, and look as though she were asleep.

Just as Lian's eyes slid shut, and she managed to get her breathing slow enough to appear as though she had been sleeping for hours, Sokka's eyes opened, and he rubbed the sleep out of them as Lian gave a believable shift in her so called 'sleep' and slid her hand underneath her pillow.

Sokka drowsily gazed at Lian for a moment, before opening his eyes a little wider, and then gave a quiet sigh. For a moment, Lian believed that Sokka had fallen for it, and had to fight the temptation to smirk.

"I know you're awake." He whispered.

Lian stiffened at the whisper, and her eyes squeezed slightly, but she did not open them. Apparently, Sokka was smarter than he looked.

The two were silent for a moment, and Lian continued to keep her eyes shut, not daring to look at Sokka after her dream- and their previous incident.

"How'd you know?" Lian whispered back, more in concern for their fellow sleeping friends.

Sokka shrugged his shoulders from his spot on his bed, and gave the tiniest inkling of a smirk.

"Well, I was actually just guessing… but thanks for proving me right…" Sokka chuckled. Lian frowned, but the smallest smirk worked its way through, despite Lian's struggles against it.

Sokka smiled silently at the sight of Lian's smallest smirk, and swallowed his chuckle as he watched Lian force the smirk into an unmoving frown.

The two fell into another deep silence for so long that Sokka began to believe that Lian had actually fallen back to sleep, when actually, the two remained awake. One with their eyes closed, blocking the other's image from their thoughts, while the other watched their companion carefully, his eyes unmoving an almost blank as thoughts of apologies rushed through his head.

"How long was I out this time?" Lian whispered after the prolonged silence. Sokka took a moment to think, and he wondered exactly how late it was.

He shrugged even though he knew Lian couldn't see him, and answered.

"A few hours. You missed dinner. The King of Omashu is insane, and he knows Aang is the Avatar." Sokka listed. Lian opened an eye at this, and silently asked Sokka the inevitable question.

"He doesn't know you're a Princess. Or a bender. So let's keep it that way." Sokka answered silently. Lian gave a pleased smirk, and shut her eye again, blocking out Sokka once more.

Sokka frowned at the disappearance of Lian's amber eyes- or, eye- and looked away from her for a moment.

"Why did you pretend to be asleep?" Sokka asked carefully. Lian frowned, but didn't open her eyes, and shifted nervously in thought.

She was quiet for a few moments before she finally answered.

"I didn't know if I wanted to talk to you. I am mad at you, you know." She answered in an equal whisper. Sokka frowned deeply, and looked away from the girl for a moment, while Lian contemplated on if that had been the right lie to tell.

They laid in silence again, and Lian breathed in deeply as she tried to think.

Sokka propped his head up on his hand with is elbow deep in his pillow, and frowned at Lian as she breathed in and out deeply, and slowly.

"Listen… Lian…" He began quietly as he moved to sit up in his bed, and Lian began to open her eyes.

The golden haired girl didn't speak, she didn't move, she just watched as Sokka sat up, and pondered what he would say next.

Sokka found himself frozen as he watched Lian, his thoughts a bit muddled at the sight of both of the firebender's ochre eyes, and found himself clearing his throat and having to fill the time with noises before finally remembering the words he wanted to say.

"I'm… I'm really sorry about… you know. Earlier." He stuttered as he rubbed the back of his head, and averted his eyes from Lian. Lian's expression still remained blank as she listened to Sokka. Sokka glanced at Lian just in time to catch her blink, but that was the only reaction he could see from her.

He sighed, and continued as he looked back towards the floor.

"I had no right to tell anyone about your personal life, and no right to say the things I did. I was just so frustrated and… I don't even know what came over me." He sighed as Lian lifted herself slightly from her bed, and gazed at Sokka as he spoke. "I don't even know what came over me… I just know that as soon as I said it, I regretted it right away. I really did. I still do…" he trailed off, and Lian was now sitting up, her golden hair falling down in waves around her face as she watched Sokka speak.

Sokka remained silent for a moment before looking up at Lian, and spotting the girl with the ochre eyes and the undecipherable expression watching him, her hands at her sides and her hair falling about her face and shoulders.

What she did next surprised him.

The Princess stood, and walked towards him. Before he knew it, she was sitting down next to him on the bed, facing the wall she had previously had her back to, and the blank expression still on her face.

"I forgive you." She said quietly. A giant smile spread across Sokka's face. "But-" Sokka's smile drooped.

"I hope you don't expect me to share any food with you any time soon." She finished. Sokka thought on this for a moment as Lian cast him a sideways glance, her amber eyes trained on his pondering expression with a small smirk.

Sokka finally decided that this was fair, and then threw his arms out, and smiled widely again.

"That's fair." He whispered as loudly as allowed and then suddenly engulfed the firebender in a hug.

Lian grunted at the surprise hug, and blinked as she was pressed against Sokka's chest for the second time that day. "But I hope you expect a hug!" He chirped, causing Lian to cast him a confused glance from her awkward position where her arms were pressed between Sokka's and her own chest, and her face was crammed against him with her hands pointed out awkwardly above Sokka's biceps. A shiver ran down her spine and her thoughts went haywire.

"Wow… this is… uncomfortable…" Lian managed to get out as Sokka looked down at her with a slightly surprised expression. Lian then patted Sokka's bicep awkwardly, and spoke out of the side of her mouth. "But I appreciate the sentiment."

Sokka's expression turned deadpan for a moment, and he released Lian with a wiry grin. Lian flashed him a tired smirk, and a carefully controlled- but still slightly shaky, laugh.

It was then that the stone wall in front of Sokka's bed abruptly slid open, and Lian and Sokka jumped in surprise , each of them jumping a foot away from each other, and away from the door. Lian quickly pulled her hood over her hair, and held it near her face as three Earth Kingdom guards marched through, and moved towards them.

"You're coming with us." One of them barked as he reached for Sokka. Just as he was about to reach for the water tribe boy, Lian moved in front of Sokka, and shot the man a fierce look, and slapped his large hand away from her face.

"Touch any one of us and I'll make sure you'll never be able to use your hands again." She snarled as she held her hood with one hand, and continued to push away the guard's hand with the other. Sokka's eyes were wide at the sight of the Princess defending him so soon after their quarrel.

The guard glared at her, and before he could proceed with yelling at her, Sokka pulled Lian back, and stopped her from doing anything rash.

"It's alright, Lian." Sokka muttered as he glared at the guards, and reached out to lower Lian's arm. Lian hesitated, her gut telling her that backing down was a bad idea- but she decided to listen to Sokka, and lowered her arm slowly, even though her amber eyes were piercing the distrust towards the guard.

But before Lian could put her arm all the way back at her side, the guard that had snarled at them snatched her wrist, and roughly pulled her away from Sokka. Lian gave a yelp of surprise, and snatched Sokka's arm in her free hand as she was pulled away from him, and Katara was awoken from her slumber.

Lian prepared to give a shout, but it was quickly silenced by a hand over her mouth. Sokka's arm was pulled from her grasp, and her amber eyes began to shoot daggers at the guards as they began to make their way out of the room with the three kids, Katara gave a little bit of a fight through her drowsy state, Sokka thrashed and cursed from behind the guard's grasp, and Lian kicked, screamed, and hit everything she could with her free hand, and feet.

The earth door slid shut without even disturbing the young Avatar's slumber, and Lian's eyes darted around her surroundings, searching for a way to escape.

"Stop squirming!" The guard holding Sokka commanded in a gruff voice as he struggled to keep a hold on Sokka. Lian spotted Sokka struggling, and began to thrash even harder, before suddenly composing herself.

The guard holding her shot the girl a puzzled look- and then looked down at her- just in time to spot her foot come flying up towards his face, a stream of fire following in its wake.

The guard gave a girlish scream, and his grip on Lian loosened for only a moment- which was all the firebender required. Lian slipped from the man's grasp, and spun about on the floor to sweep the guard's legs out from underneath him, sending him tumbling to the ground with a loud thud.

From her spot on the ground, Lian moved to throw another punch at the man, but just as a spark of a flame came from her fist, a slab of earth came flying out of the wall, and trapped her hand against the wall causing the Princess to cry out at the sudden impact. Lian was thrown against the wall viciously, her shoulder screamed in pain from the sudden yank on her muscles, and her head still tender from her previous injuries, she was left dazed for a moment- but she quickly composed herself, and prepared to attack once more. She raised up her other hand to strike, but it was also thrown into the wall by another slab of earth that came flying out of nowhere. Her hands were now trapped, and her face was pressed against the stone wall by her arm, and her hands were only a mere two inches from one another.

"Lian!" Katara shouted from her spot in the guard's arms. Sokka twisted his neck in order to get a good view of Lian from his place in the guard's grip, and his eyes grew wide at the sight of the defeated Lian. He gave an undecipherable shout, and began to fight against the guard's grip once again.

Lian turned her head slightly, but she didn't speak clearly and only groaned in response. Her hands ached. They weren't broken, but they hurt enough to prevent her from bending for a while.

"Well, well, I see now that waking you up this early probably wasn't the best idea." A voice spoke from the end of the hallway.

Lian opened her amber eyes slowly from her position against the wall, and through her golden tresses, she spotted an elderly man dressed in hideous purple dress robes, and a ridiculous headdress with two long purple feathers protruding from it. His eyes were wide and held a look of insanity to him, his figure hunched with age, and his fingers long and spindly.

Lian was instantly reminded of her former, and her sister's current advisors, Lo and Li, who shared the same liking for hideous clothing and hunched posture.

She narrowed her eyes at the thought, and blew a tuft of hair out of her face, giving her a better view of the old man.

Lian despised Lo and Li.

"Hello there!" The old cook chirped when he spied Lian's golden eyes glowering at him. "You're quite the rare breed around these parts, especially with that spiritual hair of yours, Princess!" He chimed as he leaned over with a few disgusting pops of his back, and shot Lian a wide, bucktoothed smile. Lian swore there was even a tooth with a hole going straight through it.

Lian's eyebrows shot up at the words. Sokka and Katara exchanged a befuddled glance at one another.

"How do you-" Lian's question was cut off by the old man's babbling.

"How do I look in my new robes?" He questioned as he gave them a little twirl, allowing the three kids to have a full view of the hideous attire.

Lian's expression turned dry, and she stuck out her bottom lip in frustration. Her hands were falling asleep and he was worrying about how good he looked in his robes?!

"_Lovely." _Lian spat as she glowered at him. The man just gave a crazed grin, and then held out a hand towards Lian as he looked at the guard who Lian assumed had trapped her.

"Why thank you! Now, Shao, if you could release the Princess for me, I do require her hands in order to give her their gifts!" He chirped as he turned his back to them, and began to walk down the hallway.

It was Lian's turn for her face to contort in confusion until the guard approached her, and began to bend the stone off of her hands, and snatch her wrists before she could even dare to take a swing at him. Lian glared at them man, and unwillingly allowed him to drag her down the hall with her wrists secured behind her back, just as Sokka and Katara were behind her.

When she dared to take a peek behind her, her eyes met with those of Sokka's, and he instantly shot her a look of confusion, asking the silent question:

_What did he mean by _Spiritual, _Lian?_

-0-

Soon enough, Lian was praying that the crystal ring on her finger wouldn't have enough time to grow past her thumb, and also shivered when the wretchedly drafty cave they were in howled with wind from Aang's airbending.

Unfortunately for Lian, the crystals growth sped up with heat- which meant Lian was no longer warming herself to keep herself cozy in the winter air- and her teeth were left to chatter.

Sokka stood on her right, his eyes darting back and forth from the ring creeping up his finger, and Aang's struggles as he tried to retrieve a key dangling from a chain in the middle of a waterfall- a task that the insane King of Omashu had assigned to him while his friends anxiously watched crystal grow onto their bodies.

"This is f-fantastic." Lian growled as she shivered. Damned caves.

Sokka looked towards Lian after shooting an uneasy glance at his ring, which was already spreading over his other fingers. The poor girl was shivering, and the usual warmth that seemed to radiate from her had all but disappeared, causing Sokka to even feel a bit of the cold that had been absent since he had began spending more time with Lian.

"Here," Sokka moved closer to Lian, and pressed his warm arm against Lian, who instantly moved closer to him, and gave a sigh of relief, despite the fact that her other side was still freezing. Sokka blushed at her eagerness, but was them reminded when why she had done so when she spoke.

"T-thanks, S-s-sokka." She chattered. The ring on her finger crawled up her hand a little more, and she gave a groan of frustration. "Will t-this thing s-stop growing already?" She growled as she moved to grab it, and then tried to pry it off, just for it to creep up her hand some more. Lian glared at the purple crystal, and then back up at Aang, who was wrapped around a stalagmite with a determined expression on his face.

"I wish." Sokka grumbled from his spot next to her as he watched Aang push himself off of the rock, and dive straight towards the key- just to be shot down the waterfall.

Lian frowned deeply at the sight as the crystal creeped up to her wrist. Despite the fact that she was no longer warming herself up with her bending- she was still unnaturally warm for a firebender, something that even her Mother had noticed, and the crystal continued to creep as it fed off of her warmth.

"Oh please hurry Aang…" She whispered as she eyed the crystal, and then closed her eyes.

-0-

A few hours later and several bruises from fast growing crystals, Aang, Katara, Lian, and Sokka were leaving Omashu, and the insane King Bumi behind them.

"I hope we never see him again." Lian grumbled as she nursed her bruised cheek. A large chunk of crystal had shot out at her when she had blown fire out her nose in frustration from being contained so long, and in retaliation, the crystal had exploded in grown inside and out, and even knocked over Katara and Sokka in their own crystal prisons. Aang turned his head to Lian as they walked towards Appa, and shot her a wiry, apologetic smile as she gently touched her cheek.

Sokka gently nudged Lian with his elbow, and smirked when he noticed that she was warm as she could be again, and smiled when she looked up at him with her hand over her bruised cheek.

"Well, at least we weren't crushed by rock candy." Sokka chuckled as Lian nudged him back, but just a little bit harder, causing him to stumble away, and then quickly correct his footing as Lian giggled.

Katara glanced back at them, and one of her eyebrows shot up as Aang rushed ahead playfully, and dove onto Appa's tail, just to be thrown into the air with a boisterous laugh.

"You two are being awfully friendly." Katara remarked as she slowed her pace in order to walk along with the firebender and her brother. The two in question exchanged a look with one another, and then shrugged.

"Would you rather we argue?" Lian mocked as she grinned at Katara, who blanched, and promptly shook her head furiously, her blue eyes wide and frantic.

"N-no! I'm not complaining I just-" Lian held up a hand, and smirked at Katara, who continued to stare with wide eyes.

"I was kidding, Katara." Lian chuckled as she reached over, and nudged Katara much more gently than she did Sokka. Katara cracked a smile at this, and playfully bended a bit of water towards Lian, who simply raised her hand, and released a puff of fire to turn it into steam before she ran ahead of them, and joined Aang as he played with Appa and Momo on Appa's saddle.

Sokka and Katara lingered behind, and while Lian and Aang were occupied with messing with one another- Lian giving Aang a noogie that he could not escape- Katara elbowed her brother, and send him a knowing smile. Sokka looked towards his sister, and cocked an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"What?" He questioned as they continued to walk, and Katara turned her gaze forward with a knowing smile. Sokka watched her with confusion written all over his face.

"You two…" She trailed off as they got closer to Appa, and within earshot of Aang and Lian, who were rolling around on Appa's saddle, battling each other in the ancient art of tickles, and occasionally attempting to snatch Momo, who was flitting above their heads playfully.

Lian laughed loudly when Momo suddenly dove into her hood, and pulled her down onto Sokka and Katara's rolled up sleeping bags, where she rolled off of them, over Appa's saddle, and then slid down his tail with Momo held above her head to prevent him from being squished underneath her weight.

Aang popped up from his place on Appa's head, and airbended himself to Appa's saddle, where he stood on his tip toes, and peered at Lian with wide, gray eyes.

"You okay, Lian?" He shouted. Lian responded with an slightly delirious giggle, and rolled over backwards with Momo tucked in her arms, and ended up on her knees with her long waves of golden hair ruffled and messed up about her face, perfectly framing her giddy smile, but shielding one of her ochre eyes.

"I'm great!" She chirped as Momo chattered, and then escaped from her grasp so that he could take shelter around her neck. She laughed again as she stood, and raised her shoulders in reaction to Momo's tail tickling her.

Sokka's face broke out into a small smile at the sight of Lian so giddy, and Katara watched him with a mischievous look on her usually innocent face. Aang just laughed along with the temporarily childish Lian.

"Alright you guys, we should get moving." Katara announced with a smile in her voice.

Lian obliged by climbing onto Appa without her bending, and then crawled over to her usual spot in the saddle as Sokka and Katara made their way onboard.

"Where to next, Aang?" Lian chirped as she scratched Momo's head, and leaned back against the bags of supplies and crossed her legs over one another.

Sokka sat down next to Lian, and she cast a glance at him, and then shot him a smile, in which he returned with a grin.

"Into the sky!" Aang shouted as he thrust a fist upwards, his other hand gripping Appa's reigns. "Yip yip!"

-0-

Sorry about not updating last weekend! I had a project that needed to be done last minute and college applications to do. And I'm sorry that this chapter was kind of eh. I don't really like this episode, and I've decided that I'm no longer going to go episode by episode because some of the episodes themselves are merely fillers themselves.

SO NOW THAT THAT HAS BEEN SAID, please review!


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